Americans Need to Become Fully Informed about the Federal Medical Privacy Rule

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For Immediate Release:

March 6, 2003Contacts: Jennifer Berkowitz/

Sue Blevins (202) 429-6610Americans Need to Become Fully

Informed about the Federal Medical Privacy Rule

(Washington, D.C.)—With the April 14 deadline fast approaching for the Federal

Medical Privacy Rule to take effect, Americans need to become fully informed

about the Rule and how it affects individuals' control over the flow of their

personal health information, said a panel of experts today at the National Press

Club.

" Citizens need to become armed with the facts about this historic Rule, " said

Sue Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom. " I strongly

encourage all citizens—including the media and policymakers—to read this

important document themselves. They'll see that under this new Rule, citizens

actually lose the precious freedom to give or withhold consent regarding the

release of their personal health information to many persons for many purposes. "

" What's more, individuals won't be able to find out if their personal health

information—including genetic information—has been released to the more than

600,000 'covered entities' that are granted legal access to patients' health

information without individuals' consent, " Blevins continued. " This means that

health insurers, data-processing companies, hospitals, and other organizations

will be able to access individuals' health information, but citizens won't know

this is happening. "

" The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been claiming that the

Rule empowers patients by giving them more control over how their personal

health information is used and disclosed, but unfortunately that is not true, "

said Robin Kaigh, a New York attorney who has been tracking the medical privacy

issue for the past seven years and has analyzed the Rule from the patient's

perspective. " Instead of empowering patients, the Rule does just the opposite.

It gives the federal government and health-care industry the power to decide who

should look at patients' medical records. "

" So much of what our national leaders are doing now is based on fear rather than

knowledge. And in the process we are in danger of sacrificing the individual

freedoms our forefathers fought to give us. What we choose to do today will

define who we are as a nation for many years to come, " added Barbara Loe Fisher,

president of the National Vaccine Information Center.

Kent Snyder, executive director of The Liberty Committee, stressed that

" Americans need to think about the long-term effects of the Rule and its

connection to ID numbers. " He explained that although Congress has temporarily

delayed federal funding for unique health identifiers, the law for such numbers

remains on the books. " Mandatory health-care ID numbers combined with the

Federal Medical Privacy Rule is a recipe for massive privacy invasions, " said

Snyder.

The Federal Medical Privacy Rule can be accessed online at:

www.ForHealthFreedom.org/Publications/Privacy/Rule.html Institute for Health

Freedom

1825 Eye Street, N.W., Suite 400

Washington, DC 20006

 

Tel: (202) 429-6610

Fax: (202) 861-1973

E-mail: Feedback

http://www.ForHealthFreedom.org

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