THE CONSUMER HEALTH AND RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY (CHART) PROTECTION ACT
INTRODUCED -- HON. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (Extensions of Remarks - July 01,
1999)
[Page: E1494]
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HON. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS
OF CONNECTICUT
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1999
- Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Consumer Health And
Research Technology (CHART) Protection Act to ensure the confidentiality of
medical records.
- There is currently no uniform standard to protect the privacy of a
patients' medical records. There have been a number of startling examples of
the potential effect of this void on the lives of Americans.
- For example, The National Law Journal reported in 1994 that a banker who
also served on his county's health board cross referenced customer accounts
with patient information and subsequently called due the mortgages of anyone
suffering from cancer.
- Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),
Congress set a schedule for action on this issue. Should Congress fail to
enact comprehensive legislation to protect the confidentiality of medical
records by August of this year, the Secretary of Health and Human Services
will be required to promulgate regulations.
- Congress must act before the Secretary steps in.
- We need to strike an effective balance between preventing the disclosure
of sensitive information and ensuring health care providers have the
information they need to treat individuals and make payments. The CHART
Protection Act is an effort to achieve such an equilibrium.
- The CHART Protection Act safeguards the confidentiality of medical records
while protecting legitimate uses. The legislation sets out the inappropriate
uses of medical information. These prohibitions relate specifically to
individually identifiable information.
- This is an important departure from the approach taken by other bills
which seek to restrict the use of health information unless specifically
authorized for disclosure.
- The CHART Protection Act creates a ``one-step'' authorization process for
the use of individually identifiable information by providing for
authorization up front, while allowing individuals to revoke their
authorization at any time for health research purposes.
- Most other proposals create a ``two-step'' authorization process in which
treatment, billing and health care operations are covered by one
authorization, while all other uses are subject to a separate authorization,
including use of information for research purposes. This approach has been the
source of much controversy and is likely to damage our ability to enhance
medical knowledge and improve patient care.
- In addition, the CHART Protection Act allows patients to inspect, copy and
where appropriate, amend their medical records.
- Finally, the bill imposes stiff criminal and civil penalties for
inappropriate disclosures of individually identifiable information and creates
a powerful incentive to anonymize data.
- We need to achieve a balance between a person's legitimate expectation of
privacy and the right of a business to know what it is paying for.
- It is my hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will recognize
the necessity of passing a uniform and comprehensive confidentiality law which
would serve to balance the interests of patients, health care providers, data
processors, law enforcement agencies and researchers.
END