Saturday, February 24, 2001; Page A09

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced yesterday that he would allow a new round of outside critiques of the first federal standards to safeguard the confidentiality of patients' medical records.

The regulations were to have taken effect next week, after years of controversy among consumer activists and health care interests. Thompson's creation of the unexpected, 30-day comment period gave hope to longstanding opponents of the rules, including the insurance industry and the American Medical Association.

In a statement, Thompson said the privacy rules could not take effect, as planned, even if he had not agreed to reconsider them. He said that was because Clinton administration officials inadvertently did not send a copy of the rules to Congress two months ago, when they were published in the Federal Register. The rules thus cannot be implemented until mid-April.

The secretary gave no hint if he plans to change the regulations after evaluating the new critiques. HHS was required by law to develop the standards after Congress missed a self-imposed deadline for adopting such rules.

-- Amy Goldstein

© 2001 The Washington Post Company