Senate Panel Reviews Impact
of Proposed Changes To Privacy Rule
April 19, 2002 - The Senate Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions Committee April 16 held a hearing on the Bush
Administration's proposed changes to the medical privacy rule
issued March 27 [see Washington
Highlights, March 22]. Democratic senators were generally
critical of the proposed changes, focusing primarily on the
Administration's proposals to make consent optional and to
revise the definitions used in the marketing provisions.
Senator Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was the only senator to mention
that the Administration is seeking to create a more workable
de-identification standard for research. The AAMC's April
11 comment
letter to the Department of Health and Human Services
on the proposed changes to the rule urges the Administration
to adopt a modified de-identification standard for research
uses and disclosures.
Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary
Claude Allen testified on the Administration's proposals.
In response to criticisms of the changes, he emphasized that
the rules released in April 2001 would impede care. He told
the panel that the Administration had concluded, "it's
far more important that we do nothing to impede care. Having
privacy means little if you don't have access to care."
Also testifying before the committee were Janlori Goldman,
director, Health Privacy Project, Georgetown University Institute
for Health Care Research and Policy; and Richard Harding,
M.D., president, American Psychiatric Association, who also
criticized the proposed changes. John Clough, M.D., director,
Health Affairs, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, testified in
support of the changes, and supported revising the rule to
permit the use of a limited set data that has been "facially
de-identified" to be disclosed for research purposes.
Sam Karp, chief information officer, California HealthCare
Foundation, described the California HIPAA Privacy Implementation
Survey of 100 health care organizations during January and
February of 2002. He noted that the survey suggests the privacy
rule cannot be fully or successfully implemented without clarifications
and possible modifications. At the same time, he said, "there
is substantial evidence that progress is being made in implementation,
so that removing key provisions of the rule does not seem
justified."
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Associate Vice President
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
Get Washington Highlights
in your Inbox!
|
