For Immediate Release
Contact: Ashley Katz 512-732-0033, 512-897-6390 or privacy@patientprivacyrights.org
ODERN HEALTHCARE MAGAZINE NAMES DEBORAH PEEL, MD, 72nd MOST POWERFUL PERSON, THE ONLY ADVOCATE TO MAKE THE LIST
Austin, TX August 29, 2008 - Modern Healthcare magazine has named Dr. Deborah Peel, founder and chairman of Patient Privacy Rights, as number 72 on the list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare. For the second year in a row, Dr. Peel joins this prestigious group of high ranking politicians, policy makers and CEOs. Dr. Peel is the only consumer advocate elected to this list, and one of eighteen women selected. The voters are the readers of Modern Healthcare Magazine, the nation’s leading healthcare industry trade journal.
Dr. Peel, a practicing psychiatrist of over 30 years, founded Patient Privacy Rights in 2003 after reading the fine print of the so-called “Privacy Rule” of HIPAA. This “Disclosure Rule” authorized more than 4 million entities to use and disclose our personal health information without our consent and over our objections. Patient Privacy Rights educates consumers about the importance of health privacy, champions smart policies and holds industry accountable to protect what’s most valuable—our health, our families and our reputation.
“Patients and consumers have never been at the same table as Washington insiders and major corporations. That’s why Patient Privacy Rights is working tirelessly to give a voice to patients and consumers to ensure that their health privacy is guaranteed,” said Peel.
Patient Privacy Rights and Dr. Peel earned the attention of Congress by working cooperatively to form the bi-partisan Coalition for Patient Privacy in 2006. The Coalition now includes over 50 organizations from across the political spectrum, including the ACLU, Family Research Council, Consumer Action and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Collectively, the Coalition shares the vision that Americans should control all access to their health records.