APsaA NewsAmerican Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA)309 East 49th Street, New York, NY 10017 212-752-0450www.apsa.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE19 April 2002
For more information, contact: Dottie Jeffries, 202/628-6544 ([email protected])
Nation's Psychoanalysts Urge Congress to Protect Medical Privacy
New York, NY- Knowing that effective health care (especially mental health care) can only be delivered when privacy between caregiver and consumer is secure, the members of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) have conveyed to Congress their concerns about the Bush Administration's proposed amendments to the medical privacy regulations which diminish the rights now guaranteed.
Under the proposed amendments of the Bush Administration, the right of individuals to limit the use and disclosure of protected health information is replaced by a federally mandated provision that gives covered entities, including health plans and insurers, the right to obtain, use and disclose that information, regardless of individuals' wishes, for treatment, payment and health care operations. Americans would thereby be deprived of the power they have under current law to control the use and disclosure of their health information.
"The protection of privacy of personal health care information is an essential cornerstone for quality health care." remarked Robert L. Pyles, M.D., chair of APsaA's Committee on Government Relations and Insurance. The more sensitive the information, the more important the need to ensure its protection---and the protection of privacy is essential to the efficacy of treatment provided in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. APsasA proposes that consent be the baseline and that some form of implied consent or exception (emergency care) be an extraordinary exemption.
Dr. Pyles is quick to point out: "This view resonates with the landmark Supreme Court decision in Jaffee v.Redmond (www.jaffee-redmond.org), in the Preamble to the HHS Privacy Rules, and in the recent report on Mental Health from the Surgeon General's office.
Most Americans believe they have a right to privacy of their health care information. The current HHS Privacy Rule gives them that right in the form of a right to consent or withhold consent before information is shared for treatment, payment and health care operations.
"The strongest indicator of the ownership of a "right" is the capacity to exercise that right - ie, to say 'no,'" remarked Jim Pyles, legal counsel to APsaA. The proposed changes will eliminate individual consent and the individual's right to refuse to have his or her personal health information shared. Psychoanalysts have voiced their concern to Congress that the less privacy consumers have in their health care (and especially mental health), the more they will be discouraged in seeking care a result that could bear great damage to the public welfare.
"We need only to remember the trauma Americans experienced on 9.11 to realize the importance of quality mental health care (guaranteed with privacy) to the vitality of our nation," remarked APsaA president Richard Fox, M.D. With access to psychotherapy guaranteed with privacy, many consumers since then gained invaluable assistance in managing the aftereffects of their trauma.
Their access to care helped them cope with their experiences and allowed them to begin to focus again on their family life, their work, and the contributions they make everyday as American citizens.
###
RSS