HIPAA Blog

[ Monday, April 21, 2003 ]

 

Here's something a little, um, off the fringe from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. They support Ron Paul's bill to revoke HIPAA and encourage patients to deliver to their doctors a statement they call a "patient request for non-disclosure of medical records" where the patient invokes his constitutional right to privacy and forbids the physician from releasing medical records to anyone without express consent. They even want to post newspaper ads encouraging individuals to pressure their doctors to "escape HIPAA and refuse to participate."

As I've stated, the best way to ensure that good care is delivered is to make sure there is free and unfettered distribution of information. That, of course, runs headlong into privacy concerns, which seek the total restriction on the distribution of the same information. How do you balance these two? If you want total privacy, then you will not get good care. If your physician cannot release your records to another physician or caregiver (which he would do if he were to discuss your health status with someone else), you will limit the care you get by preventing your doctor from leveraging his knowledge against the knowledge of others.

Jeff [9:12 AM]

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