HIPAA - 19, 420 cases filed; 2 prosecuted; not one fine imposed

[DrZeeLit]

This morning, from Poynter Online http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2
and WP http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/04/AR2006060400672.html


HIPAA Hype

Three years after the federal government imposed new regulations that allegedly protect patients' private medical information, The Washington Post says the government has not imposed one single fine and has prosecuted only two cases. And it is not for a lack of complaints -- there were 19,420. The Post story said:

"The law was put in place to give people some confidence that when they talk to their doctor or file a claim with their insurance company, that information isn't going to be used against them," said Janlori Goldman, a health-care privacy expert at Columbia University. "They have done almost nothing to enforce the law or make sure people are taking it seriously. I think we're dangerously close to having a law that is essentially meaningless."

HIPAA has been a nightmare for journalists, who have been blocked from all sorts of information about traffic accidents and crime victims, for instance. The Associated Press recently pointed out:

HIPAA requires hospitals to ask patients whether they wish to have information disclosed to the public. If the patient says no, the hospital can't give out information such as the traditional short condition descriptions "good" or "serious," or even say whether the person is in the hospital, dead and in the morgue, or transferred to a specialized hospital.

"That's not very satisfying for readers if they don't know whether their neighbor or the person they know from Rotary is alive, dead or what," said Mark Furman, editor of the Baker City Herald.

Furman noted ways around the roadblock: If the hospital won't release information, a reporter can call family members, for instance. But, Furman asks, "Are we invading their privacy more by knocking on their doors?"

If a patient, unconscious or mentally ill, can't make a decision, medical personnel can make one in the patient's best interest, and hospital officials say they will generally make a conservative decision not to release information.

Here are some more resources for you:

A Journalist's Guide to HIPAA from RTNDA
Association of Health Care Journalists HIPAA guide
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press story collection
Investigative Reporters & Editors' HIPAA summary

[OzarkDem]

1. Thanks, everyone should read this

I remember when Clinton got behind this legislation and helped put it in place. Its a small nuisance in day to day living, but is a big protection for patients to prevent discrimination by employers, insurance companies, etc.

IIRC, when first proposed, patient advocates pressed for regulations that allowed patients to sue if their rights were violated. Congress wouldn't pass it, so Big Dog did it as an Executive Order.

Later, when he left office, Dim Son issued another Executive Order that stripped the legal remedy from the bill and put these bullshit administrative remedies in place.

Folks, this is why, when advocating for legislation to protect anyone's rights for whatever reason, its incredibly important to ensure those rights are protected with a legal remedy (right to sue) instead of an administrative remedy (panel reviews and fines offender).

A right without a remedy is no right at all.