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PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Thursday, April 10, 2003
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Citizens' Council on Health Care
1954 University Ave. W., Suite 8
St. Paul, MN 55104
http://www.cchconline.org ======================================
CONTACT:Twila Brase, R.N., President
PHONE: 651-646-8935
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MN HOUSE AUTHOR DROPS ATTEMPT TO REPEAL MN DATA COLLECTION LAW
(St. Paul, Minnesota) - This morning in the House Health and Human
Services Finance Committee, Rep. Bill Haas (R-Champlin) dropped his
attempt to repeal the health department's authority to collect
private medical records without patient consent.
Rep. Haas said he will work over the summer with state officials to
fashion a new piece of legislation for the 2004 session.
"While we are pleased that our efforts have stalled the health
department's data collection plan, it appears the public must wait at
least another year to secure the right to keep the government out of
their medical records," said Twila Brase, president of the Citizen's
Council on Health Care.
Brase notes that millions of medical records from 1995 - 2000 have
already been collected by the health department, according to data
CCHC received from the Minnesota Department of Health:
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota: 79,498,940 records
Medica (health plan): 41,550,866 records
Hospital Records (Inpatient): 2,823,635 records
Hospital Records (Outpatient): 6,718,778 records
TOTAL RECORDS: 130,592,219
Brase says the medical records sitting in the health department do
not include the name, address and social security number of
individuals. However, the date of birth, medical record number,
gender, zip code and other information specific to diagnosis and
treatment are part of the record.
"Using authority granted by state law, the health department has
received millions of personally-identifiable medical records without
patient consent. Lack of names, addresses and social security numbers
should not assure the public that their medical privacy has been
protected," said Brase.
"The right of the public to a private life was dismissed ten years
ago by the Minnesota legislature. We are deeply disappointed that the
public's new knowledge and outrage over this violation of privacy
rights have not yet translated into law protecting patients from the
peering eyes of state government." said Brase.
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CCHC is an independent non-profit free-market health care policy
organization located in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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A free-market resource for designing the future of health care
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Citizens' Council on Health Care
1954 University Ave.W., Suite 8
St. Paul, MN 55104
651-646-8935 phone
651-646-0100 fax
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