Copyright 1999 The Hartford Courant Company
THE
HARTFORD COURANT
May 20, 1999 Thursday, STATEWIDE
SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A12
LENGTH: 717 words
HEADLINE:
PRIVACY OF RECORDS TO GET REVIEW;
;
SENATORS SEEK TO WORK OUT COMPROMISE
ON MEDICAL INFORMATION
BYLINE: JOHN A. MACDONALD;
Courant Staff Writer
DATELINE: WASHINGTON --
BODY:
Five influential senators are working closely
on legislation that for the first time would write into federal law privacy
protections for Americans' medical records, Senate aides said Wednesday.
The senators are attempting to meld the best elements of three competing
bills before the Senate Health and Education Committee opens its debate Tuesday.
So far, none of the five has signed off on a new committee draft incorporating
proposals from each of the three bills. But aides from both parties spoke
optimistically about the prospects at a Capitol Hill briefing.
Winning
strong bipartisan support will be critical if Congress is to address the issue
before an August deadline, a top committee aide said.
"We've carefully
crafted a bipartisan, moderate piece of legislation to protect medical privacy,"
said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., one of the five senators involved in
negotiations. "I am cautiously optimistic we can get a strong vote in committee
and ultimately send [the measure] to the floor for a vote."
Congress is
about to tackle the issue after hearing a series of horror stories about the
improper release of individual medical records.
In one case, a bank
improperly accessed a medical database to determine which of its borrowers had
cancer, then attempted to terminate loans to those with the disease. In another,
a chain drugstore disclosed customer prescription records to a direct mail
company, which solicited them to consider alternative treatments.
The
key issue in Tuesday's debate will be how far Congress should go in limiting
access to private medical records, one of the most difficult and personal issues
it will take up this year.
The issue has taken on increasing urgency
with the development of large computer databases, some with millions of patient
records. While such databases expand health research opportunities, they also
increase the potential for misuse of medical information.
"The only
people not yet concerned about the privacy of their medical records are those
individuals still under the false impression that they actually have rights
now," said Dodd, a senior member of the Senate Health and Education Committee.
In its debate Tuesday, the committee will try to answer three questions:
* Who should regulate personal medical information -- the federal or
state government, or both?
* Should patients be consulted every time an
organization seeks their medical records, or should blanket authorizations for a
wide array of conditions be sufficient?
* How much access should
researchers have to individual medical records, and how should they be able to
use the information? The same question applies to law enforcement agencies.
Congress passed legislation in 1996 calling for federal
privacy protection of medical information. If
Congress does not act by Aug. 21, the task will be turned over to the secretary
of health and human services, who will have until Feb. 21 to issue new
regulations.
Under federal policies adopted in 1991, research conducted
by academic medical centers, pharmaceutical companies and 17 federal agencies is
subject to certain oversight requirements.
But Congress' General
Accounting Office reported in February that many organizations do not have
policies limiting access to personally identifiable information and that many
fall outside the current review process.
The House passed privacy
protections as part of health care legislation that died last year. This year,
the Senate Health and Education Committee is taking the lead. Chairman James M.
Jeffords, R-Vt., has offered a middle-of-the road bill, which Dodd is
co-sponsoring, that tries to balance privacy concerns with legitimate research
interests.
A competing measure introduced by Sen. Robert F. Bennett, R-
Utah, has the support of most of the health care industry, including large
insurers and pharmaceutical companies. Industry officials say Bennett's measure
would provide adequate privacy standards without cumbersome limits to
information they consider essential.
At the other end of the spectrum is
a measure sponsored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Patrick J. Leahy,
D-Vt. It would put the tightest limits on access to medical information and is
favored by civil libertarians and consumer groups.
LOAD-DATE: May 20, 1999
