Administration to propose rules to protect privacy of medical records

October 27, 1999
Web posted at: 9:06 p.m. EDT (0106 GMT)

In this story: Increased electronic data sharing heightens need Health industry says cost will be billions RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Clinton administration soon will propose broad new rules designed to protect the privacy of medical records, acting through executive power to address an issue on which Congress has been unable to reach a consensus.

Administration officials said the new regulations will be released in the next week or so. In them, the administration plans to:

• Make it tougher for insurance companies to share data for reasons unrelated to medical treatment or to justify payment of claims.

• Require insurers to inform consumers about their policies concerning access to medical records.

• Require HMOs and other health plans to get patients' permission to share any personal or medical information for marketing or most medical research.

• Forbid the release of entire medical records when only a portion of the information is required to answer a legitimate query.

Administration officials say the rules are necessary to protect privacy -- all the more so now because of the rapidly expanding practice of hospitals, doctors, pharmacists and HMOs transferring and sharing medical data electronically, often without patients' knowledge.

But even as the administration publishes the new regulations and invites public comment, Clinton will call on Congress to take additional steps, such as creating a new federal right to sue a doctor or HMO for violating a patients' privacy rights.

The administration has sought advice from an array of consumer groups, and these organizations are said to support the bulk of the administration's plan.

Health industry groups are alarmed by the measures, in part because they say it will cost billions to comply with the new regulations. The industry also has said the rules could have a countereffect -- that they could hinder patients' access to their own records.