Jim Harper on HIPAA medical regulations: Where's the beef?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[I am not a HIPAA expert, thank goodness. I do not know if Peter or Jim 
is correct. But I do know enough about regulation to know that HIPAA 
comes with a real price tag. It is reasonable to ask its supporters to 
quantify the (ephemeral?) benefits to see if they outweigh the (real) 
cost. Otherwise why should it stay on the books? --Declan]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Politech] Peter Swire's "modest" defense of HIPAA 
medicalregulatory law [priv]
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:56:59 -0400
From: Jim Harper - Privacilla.org <jim.harper () privacilla org>
To: 'Declan McCullagh' <declan () well com>
CC: Peter Swire <peter () peterswire net>

Peter certainly makes the case that the regulatory superstructure has
increased thanks to HIPAA.  That's true, but it should not be mistaken for
privacy itself being increased.

He says that a large investment in systems and training makes privacy
better.  (Perhaps even "empirically" better?  I'd like to see those
numbers.)

HIPAA lawyers tell me that their clients are doing the same things with a
lot more regulation and paperwork (or they're chasing after canards, like
the volume at which a nurse may call the name of a patient).

Spending is not results, though high-spending government officials would
like us to think so.

Tens of billions of dollars were diverted from providing health care to
patients.  We should have gotten a *major improvement* in privacy protection
and consumer confidence in health care privacy.  It hasn't happened because
the regulatory approach is a dead-end.

If real reform were to allow markets for health care products and services,
consumers would get back in the driver's seat.  Privacy protection, on the
terms consumers demanded, would follow.

Jim Harper
Editor
Privacilla.org

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