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Oct. 19 - 47 State & National Organizations, Health IT Companies Join Forces to Demand Consumer Control of Personal Health Records

With support from a sizeable number of leading health IT corporations, the bi-partisan Coalition for Patient Privacy recently urged Congress to restore basic privacy protections.

To address the healthcare companies, physician practices, and institutions building electronic health records systems without federal privacy protections, the ACLU, AIDS Action, the American Association for People with Disabilities, American Conservative Union, Family Research Council, Patient Privacy Rights, Consumer Action, Microsoft Corp., Inc. and many more presented a letter that asked Congress to set national privacy standards.

The letter to Congress was revealed at a press conference on October 18, 2007 in the Rayburn House Office Building. “Today the Coalition for Patient Privacy has transformed the debate on privacy and health IT: a major multinational technology corporation, Microsoft, has joined the American people in urging Congress to build ironclad privacy protections into electronic health systems up front” said Dr. Deborah Peel, Founder of Patient Privacy Rights. “The false arguments that consumer control of access to health information is too expensive or will obstruct the flow of health information have been laid to rest. Privacy -- every American's right to control access to personal health information---is the key to building a successful electronic health system.”

Congressman Edward J. Markey joined the coalition at the press conference. “The great Irish poet William Butler Yeats once wisely observed, ‘In dreams begins responsibility.’ The dream of a nationwide, seamless, effective health IT system is enticing. Let us hope that we can realize this dream. But today Congress has a responsibility to ensure that patients’ personal medical secrets are not put at risk in the process. If we fail to build in tough privacy principles and strict safeguards, we run the risk that the dream of health IT will turn into a nightmare. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress, and privacy leaders such as Dr. Peel, to craft legislation that both promotes the use of health IT while also preserving patient privacy,” said Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), a Co-Chairman of the House Privacy Caucus.

Frank Torres, director of Consumer Affairs at Microsoft added: “Microsoft joins the Coalition for Patient Privacy in urging Congress to include basic privacy protections for electronic health records in any health IT bill it considers. Such protections are needed to ensure the creation of a health IT eco-system that consumers can trust. We can empower people to lead healthy lives, while putting them at the center and in control of their health information.”

Source: Coalition for Patient Privacy

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