Health Information Management

ACLU tells Congress to 'go for the gold standard' in patient privacy

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, August 18, 2008

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wants standards for conversion to electronic patient records to require patient control and compensation for privacy breaches, according to a July 23 press release.
 
The ACLU cautions that House bill 6357 (Protecting Records, Optimizing Treatment, and Easing Communication through Healthcare Technology Act) has insufficient privacy provisions and leaves patients vulnerable to bad, stolen, lost, or misused data, the organization said in its press release.
 
“As part of the transition from paper to electronic health records, Congress should go for the gold standard of medical privacy. Lawmakers must define medical privacy as patient control of electronic medical records. Ideally, when any company wants to use patient records for a secondary purpose—one that does not involve treatment, bill payment or reimbursement—it should require patient consent,” the ACLU said in its announcement.
 
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