--- Subject: RE: [Politech] Another unintended consequence of health "privacy" laws[priv] X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.0.6375.0 Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2003 14:27:09 -0400 Message-ID: <5FCF899547931845B276514EF3F4E2227D9381@private> From: "Katharina Kopp" <kkopp@private> To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan@private> Declan, Re: Medical Privacy, posting by J.D. Abolins Both J.D. Abolins and the author of the posted news article incorrectly state what the HIPAA privacy rule requires. Unfortunately they add to the confusion and misunderstanding about certain provisions of the law. Despite the law's clear purpose and scope, a lack of widespread and consistent public education, training, and technical assistance over the past 2 and one half years, has given rise to a number of persistent and destructive myths. It might be useful to the readers of your listserve to have a look at the Health Privacy Project's 'Myths and Facts about the HIPAA Privacy Rule,' available on our website: http://www.healthprivacy.org/info-url_nocat2303/info-url_nocat_show.htm?doc_id=173435 Myth 3 and 4 address the confusion and misinterpretation that the quoted article on access by clergy to patients' addresses. The Privacy Rule permits hospitals to continue the practice of providing directory information to the public -- including clergy -- unless the patient has specifically chosen to opt out. The Regulation specifically provides that hospitals may continue the practice of disclosing directory information "to members of the clergy," unless the patient has objected to such disclosure. Any requirement that the patient must list a specific church or any limitation on the practice of directly notifying clergy of admitted patients is either an internal hospital policy or based on a confused reading of the law. Katharina Kopp ********************************************** Katharina Kopp, Ph.D. Program Manager Health Privacy Project 1120 19th Street, NW, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20036 phone (202) 721-5614 fax (202) 530-0128 kkopp@private www.healthprivacy.org _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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