Daily Lobo columnist
Under a proposed new federal medical "privacy" rule, government control over our medical records could be a lot closer than we think, and we only have until March 30 to offer our comments to the government.
Americans are being told that we have a new right to medical privacy, but what we need is some help from the government because apparently the feds are the only ones competent enough to do a good job.
A fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services puts it like this:
"Each time a patient (has medical needs), a record is made of their confidential health information," it states. "For many years the confidentiality of those records was maintained by our family doctors, who kept our records sealed away in file cabinets and refused to reveal them to anyone else.
"Today, the use and disclosure of this information is protected by a patchwork of state laws, (so) there is a pressing need for national standards to control the flow of sensitive patient information ... "
At first glance, that doesn't sound too bad, does it? And the proposal initially seems to benefit patients. Health and Human Services explains that the government wants to give us "significant new rights" to oversee the use of our health information and ensure that such information can be used for health purposes only.
So how could anyone possibly complain about proposals like this? Very easily. Having told us how much it wants to help ensure the privacy of our medical records, the governmental powers-that-be now move onto the bad news, ominously referred to by Health and Human Services as "balancing public responsibility with privacy protections."
Reasons for possible disclosure of medical records include oversight of the health care system, "emergency circumstances," judicial and administrative proceedings, limited law enforcement activities and apparently any other third party thought to be appropriate.
But as the Institute for Health Freedom commented, who decides what third parties have access to our medical records?
It was those three ominous sounding words, "without individual authorization," that were of greatest concern to me. Thankfully, I'm not the only one worried about this proposed regulation.
In a recent letter to Tommy Thompson, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Congressman Dick Armey, R-Texas, wrote that the proposal may put, "private personally identifiable information at greater risk than exists today. What has not been widely reported are the rule's new mandates requiring doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers to share patients' personal medical records with the federal government, sometimes without notice or advance warning."
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Armey also said that rather than ensuring the privacy of people's medical records, the proposed regulations provide the federal government with additional access to people's medical records.
He's blunt about the situation, saying, "this proposed regulation puts the medical privacy of millions of Americans at risk. Handing sensitive medical records to federal departments and agencies that are ill-equipped to protect that information is not a solution; it is inviting abuse, errors, scandal and tragedy."
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons articulated the bottom line to this potentially disastrous mess very well.
"The regulations are so confusing that no one knows what are the ultimate results, and the final decision would be handed off to the Office of Civil Rights," it states in a press release. "So whatever the lawyers in that office decree as your right to medical privacy would be the final word. Your privacy would be lost."
If you're concerned, you have until 5 p.m. Eastern time Friday to let your voice be heard. You can't phone in or fax your opinions. Health & Human Services representative says it will destroy your comments if you send them that way. However, you can try to e-mail the department by going to the following site: www.aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp.
If you're not concerned, don't do anything. Just don't be surprised when the most intimate medical details of your life start turning up in the most embarrassing places. You won't be able to say you weren't warned!
