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A coalition of medical privacy advocates are waiting to hear whether a federal judge will rule in their favor in their suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over privacy rules in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
As was reported in the September issue of the Advocate, the coalition of more than a dozen consumer, professional and health care organizations filed suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Plaintiffs in the suit contend that HIPAA’s rules regarding the release of patients’ medical records constitute an egregious breach of patients’ constitutional privacy rights. The federal government insists that the rules in fact go a long way toward controlling who can access electronic medical records and under what circumstances.
The suit focuses on a section of the HIPAA law that HHS amended late in the regulatory process. The plaintiffs maintain that this change negated a requirement in the original notice of proposed rule making that patients had to consent to the release of their medical records in most instances if the release was to extend beyond the doctor’s office or hospital in which they were being treated.
The plaintiffs filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which is located in Philadelphia. According to Jim Pyles, counsel for the American Psychoanalytic Association, a member of the coalition, that location was chosen because "there are fundamental constitutional issues at stake, and we thought they either ought to be preserved or come to end where they began.”
The December federal court hearing marked the first time the court heard oral arguments on both sides’ motions for summary judgment. A decision by the judge is likely early this year, since the case is on an expedited schedule. The government wants summary judgment based on its contention that the plaintiffs do not have standing to file this suit, since the amended rule has not caused them any direct harm.
Beth Powell
Director, Public Policy and Professional Issues
American Mental Health Counselors Association
801 N. Fairfax Street, Suite 304
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Phone: 800-326-2642, ext. 105
Phone: 703-548-6002, ext. 105
Fax: 703-548-4775
Website: www.amhca.org |
