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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/20/opinion/20MONDAY4.html

Modifying Medical Privacy

aking sure medical records are kept private is a worthy goal, universally popular with voters. But it has been far from a lay-down hand for the federal government. The privacy debate has seesawed back and forth. The Clinton administration proposed standards in 1999 that did not require patient consent for the routine exchange of information in treatment or paying claims but did require written permission for any disclosures beyond that. But after a barrage of complaints from privacy advocates and others, the Clinton team flip-flopped the following year and required patient consent for all disclosures, even among health care providers.

Now the Bush administration is preparing to flip back again, before the rules take effect next April. The Bush proposal would allow doctors, hospitals, pharmacists and other health care providers to disclose patient information to one another for treatment, payment of claims or certain business operations, without obtaining consent. Written permission would be required, however, for any purposes beyond that. Thus information could not be disclosed without permission to employers, life and disability insurers, marketing firms, banks or anyone else not engaged in caring for the patient or paying for it.

That strikes us as a reasonable place to draw the line on this issue. Patients are far more worried about information seeping out of the health care system than about health professionals' communicating among themselves. With the health system under enormous financial strain, this is no time to be adding additional costs and legal or bureaucratic burdens. It seems enough, as the administration proposes, to provide patients with a statement of the health provider's policy on sharing medical information and let any patients who are dissatisfied either negotiate changes or go elsewhere.

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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.