The American Medical Association opposed government regulations to keep electronic medical records from employers and marketers at a hearing last month.
AMA trustee William Plested said in a statement that the regulations fall short of protecting patient confidentiality and privacy while imposing undue administrative burdens on doctors.
“Various parties in the health-delivery system – including researchers, hospitals and health plans – all argue that they need patient-identifiable health information for purposes beyond direct treatment,” said Plested. “And most believe they don’t need explicit patient consent to get it.”
The rules, when finalized, are scheduled to take effect in 2002.
Last October, the Direct Marketing Association endorsed the rules proposed by President Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.
The suggested regulations restrict the use and release of computerized personal health data and would require healthcare providers and health plans to comply with the following rules:
– Give patients a clear written explanation of how medical data is used, kept and maintained.
– Obtain written permission before disclosing an individual’s medical records.
– Allow patients to review and correct errors in their files.
– Restrict third-party access to the data.
“Informed consent should be obtained, where possible, before personally identifiable health information is used for any purpose,” Plested continued. “However, this is clearly not practical or even possible in some instances.”
In those instances, he said, when patient consent in not feasible, either the information should have identifying information stripped from it or an objective, publicly accountable entity must conclude that patient consent is not required after weighing the risks and benefits of the proposed use.
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