PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, January 8, 2001

======================================
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
======================================


GeorgiaHHS Should Extend Public Comment
Deadline on New Medicare Database

St. Paul, Minnesota - While Americans were relaxing over the holidays, enjoying a reprieve from the September 11 attacks, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the pending implementation of the nation’s largest centralized health care database on American citizens. The Medicare Beneficiary Database (MBD) will house the personal, medical and insurance data of 42 million individuals who may or may not be Medicare recipients.

”The agency asked the public to comment, but asking for comment over the holidays was a sure guarantee that they wouldn’t get any,” says Twila Brase, president of St. Paul-based Citizens’ Council on Health Care (CCHC) and Board Member of the new Patient Safety Institute .

”The public should be concerned that the Medicare administration has created a one-stop data shop on senior citizens,” she adds.

On December 6, 2001, the CMS published in the Federal Register a notice regarding pending implementation of the Medicare Beneficiary Database (MBD). The MBD will provide a centralized database of “pertinent and comprehensive personal data” on Medicare recipients and those who are eligible for Medicare, whether or not they enroll. After death, the recipient’s individually-identifiable patient data will still be available-archived at HHS in perpetuity.

Data maintained on each person in the database will include personal health information, health insurance claim number, social security number, sex, race, ethnicity, date of birth, address, choice of hospice and health plan, Medicaid eligibility, and historic and current home residences. The data can be shared with private and public entities for 11 purposes including litigation, research, fraud and tax investigations, and assessment of treatment effectiveness, quality and cost.

CCHC has faxed letters to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and Rep. Dan Burton, chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight requesting a 90-day extension to the comment period.

”Citizens must be given the time to express their opinions and concerns about the plan to centralize their private medical data under one public roof,” Brase said.


PUBLIC COMMENT DEADLINE: January 15, 2002
Email Address for Public Comments: nburford@cms.hhs.gov
For more information: William Seabrease, CMS, #410-786-6187

- 30 -

CCHC is an independent non-profit health care policy organization located in St. Paul, Minnesota

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.