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March 22, 2002
Bush Seeks to Loosen HIPAA Rules
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Most importantly, the proposal calls for dropping the HIPAA provision that compels patients to give written permission before their records may be disclosed to doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and insurance companies.
Instead, those who use records would only have to notify patients at some point of their privacy rights.
In addition, Bush wants to:
- enable more parents to find out what medical services their teenagers are seeking.
- make it easier for researchers to gain access to patients' records.
- give business associates of various health care providers more time before they have to follow the remaining confidentiality rules .
According to the Washington Post, the administration is also suggesting a change that would significantly strengthen privacy rights. It wants to allow patients to decide up front whether to allow their records to be used for marketing purposes.
The Post reports that the overall proposal represents Bush's effort to tailor a policy that has daunted presidents and lawmakers for years: how much control to give consumers over the proliferating access to medical records in an electronic age.
Last April, Bush announced that he would move ahead with the HIPAA regulations adopted by President Clinton - but indicated he would modify some rules to make them simpler and less onerous for health-care companies and practitioners.
Thursday, in disclosing what form those modifications will take, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said, "The changes we are proposing today will allow us to deliver strong protections for personal medical information while improving access to care."
The new version came in for criticism from privacy advocates, physicians, and Democratic leaders on health care. But it was hailed by the insurance industry.
Administration officials told the Post that they'd allow a relatively quick, one-month period for outside comment on its proposal, before HHS administrators begin to refine it and issue a final version. It does not require congressional approval.
In the meantime, the parts of the Clinton-era HIPAA rules with which Bush agrees have taken effect, but health care providers will not be required to comply with them until next year.
The basic aspects that remain intact guarantee Americans the right to inspect their own medical records that are kept in electronic form, determine who else has seen them, and complain when they are used without permission.
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