The idiots who shilled for the Stim Bill forgot this gem, which they ignored.
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CNSNews.com
‘Exceptions’ in Stimulus Bill Allow Sale of Health Records
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer
President Barack Obama visits the press cabin on Air Force One during a flight en route to a town hall style meeting about the economy in Elkhart, Ind., Monday, Feb. 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
(CNSNews.com) – It could become easier to sell and exchange the health information of Americans under the economic stimulus package that awaits President Barack Obama’s signature Tuesday.
The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that passed Congress last week allocates $19 billion to establish centrally linked health data infrastructure to contain the health information of “each American” by 2014 and to set up the new office of the “National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.”
Though the legislation says there is a “prohibition on sale of electronic health records or protected health information,” there are five pages of exceptions to the prohibition that include research, treatment of an individual, or a decision by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive the prohibition. (See Legislation, PDF pages 391-395.)
One exception listed in the legislation is if, “The purpose of the exchange is for public health activities.” Another exception is apparently to ensure the data – if sold – are not for commercial reasons, saying, “The purpose of the exchange is for research and the price charged reflects costs of preparation and transmittal of the data for such purpose.”
Another exception is rather broad saying, “The purpose of the exchange is otherwise determined by the secretary in regulations to be similarly necessary and appropriate” in accordance with the other exceptions.
Further, one of the exceptions seemingly states the government can obtain an individual’s health information for the purpose of protecting an individual’s privacy. It reads: “The purpose of the exchange is for treatment of the individual, subject to any regulation that the secretary may promulgate to prevent protected health information from inappropriate access, use or disclosure.”
The legislation also says that the prohibition will be reviewed after 18 months. The review will further explore whether the government “may further restrict the exception described in paragraph (2)(A) to require that the price charged for the purpose described in such paragraph reflects the cost of preparation and transmittal of the data for such purpose, if the secretary finds that such further restriction will not impede such research or public health activities.”
Some of these exceptions are already in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a law with privacy provisions.
But the exceptions on exchanging or selling information could be more problematic to privacy if health records are digital, said Sue Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom, a group that advocates health privacy issues.
“Digital records without consent is a recipe for invasion of privacy,” Blevins told CNSNews.com Monday. “Consent was gutted with HIPAA, but it is really hard to get out paper records. When they are made electronic, you can share data with a click of a mouse.”
Those who could be able to sell the information would be health care providers, insurance companies and other entities that collect the data.
The Institute for Health Freedom supports digitizing records but wants an opt-out provision for individuals. Further, Blevins said, electronic health information could be stored on cards that patients could take with them from doctor to doctor, rather than establishing a centralized system through the federal government.
“There are some people who have chronic conditions and are tired of sharing that information over and over again, so they would like to have electronic records,” Blevins said. “It should be up to the individual, just like some people want to do online banking, some don’t.”
A statement by the Democratic majority on the Senate Finance Committee says the information will not be used to influence treatment and that “Federal law makes your medical records--whether they’re on paper or in a computer--confidential to you and your health provider.”
President Barack Obama, when touting the overall stimulus bill on Friday, said, “We'll computerize our health care system, at last, to save billions of dollars and countless lives as we reduce medical errors.”
However, some Republicans in Congress have questions about the government gathering the health care information of individuals, and what will be done with that information.
“Making sure that providers can share information on a patient, making sure we can do that effectively and efficiently is a good thing. Having government decide about the course of treatment is not a good thing,” Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) told CNSNews.com.
“It goes right back to the government’s role should be between a patient and a provider. That information needs to be there for the patient and the provider to make decisions about their health care -- not for government to intercede.”
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said spending more on health information technology creates jobs, saves money, provides less bureaucracy and will save costs for small businesses.
“If you go to the bank on the way home and take out your ATM card and get $25 out of your account to use this weekend, the transaction costs the bank – in many cases – half a penny. A medical transaction of your records from you doctor in Bethesda to an emergency room in Washington costs $10,” Gibbs said Friday.
“The president believes that by implementing health care technology, we can save billions of dollars in health care costs we see skyrocketing every year, putting more and more business out of business and is blamed repeatedly for patient safety and patient death,” said Gibbs.
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Further, one of the exceptions seemingly states the government can obtain an individual’s health information for the purpose of protecting an individual’s privacy. It reads: “The purpose of the exchange is for treatment of the individual, subject to any regulation that the secretary may promulgate to prevent protected health information from inappropriate access, use or disclosure.”
1984 anyone? ? ? ? ? ? ?
