WASHINGTON -- The health industry wants the Bush administration to rewrite medical privacy rules issued by the previous White House, arguing the regulations would delay help to patients.
The regulations are designed to prevent doctors and insurers from sharing confidential information about patients and to punish them if they do.
Now health groups will ask Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to delay the rules beyond the April 14 effective date and consider eliminating key provisions they say hamstring their ability to serve patients.
Particularly, the groups want the administration to reconsider rules requiring patient consent for using or disclosing oral or written communications as well as electronic records. They say the new rules go beyond the intent of the original law, drawn up in the budding computer age.
A pharmacist who gives a patient simple advice could be subjected to legal penalties under the privacy law, the groups contend, unless the patient had gone through the extra step of filing written consent with the pharmacy.
"Pharmacies are literally expecting chaos at the counters when people try to pick up their own or their families' prescription drugs without having the proper consent forms on file," said Mary Grealy, president of the Healthcare Leadership Council, which represents the groups. They represent a range of interests from drug stores to teaching hospitals to doctors.
At issue are major rules written during President Clinton's final days in office. Tardy paperwork in the Clinton White House delayed implementation of the rules and gave the Bush administration a chance to review them. Even if ultimately approved, the rules won't take effect for two years.
Under the rules, patients could sign one-time consent forms on their first visit to a doctor that would allow disclosures for routine matters like billing and treatment. But they would have to explicitly authorize most other uses of their records.
Thompson told the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday that he has not decided what course to take on the rules and that he would consider public comments.
