Have Feds' HIPAA health privacy rules helped? [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: HIPAA Privacy One Year Later: Prognosis . . . Negative!
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 00:53:48 -0400
From: Jim Harper - Privacilla.org <jim.harper () privacilla org>






For Immediate Release

April 14, 2004

Contact: Jim Harper

(202) 546-3701

http://www.privacilla.org

HIPAA Privacy One Year Later: Prognosis . . . Negative!

On Anniversary of Implementation, Federal Health Privacy Regulations are
Ineffective, if not Harmful, for Patient Privacy

Washington, D.C. - Americans' health privacy is no better assured a year
after federal privacy regulations went into effect, according to privacy
policy think-tank Privacilla.org. April 14th is the one-year anniversary of
privacy regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act going into effect.

"If anything, health privacy has receded in the past year," said Jim Harper,
Editor of Privacilla.org. "Federal regulators stepped into a bad situation
and made it worse. Consumers today have even fewer privacy-protecting
options and far less confidence in the privacy of their health information
and health decisions."

According to a report <http://www.privacilla.org/releases/HIPAA_Report.pdf>
issued by Privacilla.org a year ago, threats to health privacy are a symptom
of deep problems in the health care system, such as the growth of
third-party payers who stand between patients and doctors in health care
transactions.

"Rather than moving power back to patients," said Harper, "the bureaucrats
who wrote the regulation created a system approving use after multiple use
of personal health information."

"Trying to negotiate for better privacy protection is even harder now that a
government stamp-of-approval is on massive information sharing," said
Harper. "The notices and forms people receive from doctors and hospitals
make clear what people have sensed: 'You have no control in this system.'"

Last year's report on HIPAA catalogued the web of privacy protections that
protected health privacy before the massive growth of third-party payment
and before the massive federal privacy regulation. These included the ethics
and professionalism of doctors and nurses, oversight from state licensing
boards, the discipline of the health care market, contract law, malpractice
law, and other legal doctrines, including the state privacy torts.

Looking back on the past year, Harper queried: "Has the weight of patients'
privacy concern been lifted? Are people giving their doctors better
information and getting better care? Are misdiagnoses being avoided? At
least $17 billion dollars was diverted from patient care to implement these
rules. We should demand some results or demand their repeal."

The Privacilla report is available at
http://www.privacilla.org/releases/HIPAA_Report.html [html] and
http://www.privacilla.org/releases/HIPAA_Report.pdf [PDF].

Privacilla.org (http://www.privacilla.org
<http://www.privacilla.org/index.html> ) is an innovative Web site that
captures "privacy" as a public policy issue. Privacilla has been described
as a "privacy policy portal" and an "online think-tank."

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