PATIENT PRIVACY RIGHTS TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS:
ENSURE PRIVACY IN THE HOUSE IT BILL
The House Energy & Commerce Committee has been working on a broad health IT bill ("HITEC") under the leadership of Rep. Dingell and Rep. Barton.
View the draft legislation here.
Patient Privacy Rights was invited to provide oral remarks at the committee's hearing Wed, June 4, 2008. Our Founder, Deborah Peel, MD, submitted the following written testimony.
"Patient Privacy Rights is urging Congress to include the definition of privacy and restore Americans' right to consent to the use and disclosure of their personal information...
"Getting consent to disclose your diagnosis of cancer, an STD, a Paxil prescription or even having the flu is not radical. In fact, obtaining consent is even easier with health IT. Some have argued that getting consent today is burdensome or impractical.
"If you believe that you are saying it is O.K. for the health industry to not even try to communicate with their customers, and it is O.K. to let those who have the most to gain decide how personal information is used. Well, that's not O.K. Destroying the bond of trust between physicians and patients that has worked for millennia is the one radical concept of this debate."
- View the Video Webcast of this Hearing
- Read the full written testimony
- Read the one-page summary of the testimony
- Read Patient Privacy Rights' detailed draft comments on the HITEC draft
- Read Patient Privacy Rights' Press Release
- Read EPIC's comments on the HITEC draft