FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 22, 2002
CONTACTDonald W. Fisher, Ph.D.703) 838-0033, ext. 331[email protected]
AMGA Commends HHS on Proposed Changes to Privacy Rule
ALEXANDRIA, VA--The American Medical Group Association commended HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson on proposed changes to HHS' health privacy regulations released on March 21, specifically the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, as required by HIPAA. The association has conducted 18 months of intensive lobbying, letter writing, and coalition building in an effort to eliminate or reduce unnecessary administrative burdens in the regulations that are neither in the best interests of patient-provider cohesiveness nor in the assurance of quality care.
"This is not only a great victory for our member medical groups but for their patients as well," said AMGA President and CEO Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D. "HHS' proposed modifications to patient privacy rules will help restore much-needed balance between patient privacy and common sense medical practice. Of great importance to AMGA's members is the proposed change to remove the specific provision of patient prior consent, which created impediments to the patient-provider relationship and unintended barriers to timely and efficient care. AMGA has been at the forefront of the effort to eliminate this particularly unnecessary and intrusive ruling from HIPAA, and our efforts have been met with success. We do continue to support the discretionary guidance as initially proposed."
HHS recognized the problems inherent in the prior consent provision when they launched their initiative to reduce regulatory burden. According to Secretary Thompson, "Over-regulation undermines quality of care and health care delivery by using resources unproductively. We can help improve patient care delivery by bringing more common sense into the regulatory process." To fix these problems the proposed revisions would advance access to care by removing the mandatory consent requirements for treatment, payment, and health care operations that could obstruct with efficient delivery of health care. These proposed revisions also allow doctors to discuss patient's treatment with other doctors and professionals involved in patient care without trepidation that their conversations could lead to a violation.
Other proposed changes would do the following: give health plans, doctors, and insurance claims clearinghouses an extra year to comply with the new rule that business associates protect patients' privacy; strengthen protections for use of medical information in marketing; guarantee more parents access to medical reports of their children; and make it easier for medical researchers to use patient records.
The rule will be published in the Federal Register March 27 with a 30-day comment period. HHS will consider the changes before issuing a final rule. Further information about the proposed rule is available on the Web at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/20020321a.html.
AMGA is an association that represents medical groups, including some of the nation's largest integrated health care delivery systems. AMGA's mission is to shape the health care environment by advancing high quality, cost-effective, patient-centered, and physician-directed health care. The members of AMGA deliver health care to more than 50 million patients in 40 states, including 15 million capitated lives. The average AMGA member group has 186 physicians and 12 satellite locations. Headquartered in Alexandria, VA, AMGA is the strategic partner for medical groups providing a comprehensive package of benefits, including political advocacy, educational and networking programs and publications, benchmarking data services, and financial and operations assistance.
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