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New Patient’s Privacy Rules May be Helpful to Those You Serve
Several years ago, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which went into effect on April 14, 2003. The rights provided by these new medical privacy regulations include: · A patient’s right to inspect, obtain a copy of and request correction of errors in their medical records. · To request information about who else has seen medical records. · To request certain restrictions on the disclosure of medical data. · To ask that information be delivered to a location other than the address of record. · To bar hospitals from releasing information about inpatients to the public or others. While medical professionals, offices and hospitals have spent considerable money in order to comply with these new regulations, many consumer organizations are pleased that these regulations will block information which some patients and those with disabilities would prefer not be made public. Many parents with children with disabilities would appreciate an opportunity to review their youngsters’ medical records and may find information which would appear to be misleading. They will now have the right to contest diagnoses which have proven to have been in error. There have been cases in the recent past when employment or promotion has been denied, not on the basis of an actual condition or performance but on the reporting to personnel officials of tests which have indicated a tendency the individual may develop a disabling condition. Additionally, media reports of unauthorized access and commercial use of medical records and other misuse of such information available to unauthorized persons in computer or paper files has raised concerns on the part of many individuals. The health industry lobbied strongly against Clinton administration privacy regulations issued in December 2000. The following April the Bush administration announced it would not kill the regulations but revise them, making some accommodations for “non-marketing” of medical informational mailings. In the intervening months HHS received a record 54,000 comments before issuing the new regulations in August, 2002. Changes patients will experience include sign-in sheets at doctors’ office which no longer request reason for visit; greater care of files and charts so that unauthorized people can not read them; computer systems password protected, information encrypted and screens not visible to outsiders; health care workers are to disclose only minimum information about patients without prior authorization. Previously patient privacy was not consistently practiced. There are fines attached: A possible $50,000 fine and a year in prison for intentional disclosures and a maximum $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison for those who intend to sell such information. However, it is unclear how aggressively HHS will enforce the regulations. |
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