The comments were given due consideration and a final rule was published. The agency has now used a procedural technicality to reopen the rule for additional comments. Critics of the rule are urging the agency to scrap the rule or otherwise delay its implementation. If the rule moves forward, the agency is being urged to weaken it by taking away the rights of patients to consent to the sharing of their information, denying patients the right to access their own records, creating larger loopholes in the rule, and allowing holders of medical information to share their patients' data with others without any responsibility or accountability. But nothing has changed since the rule was finalized that diminishes the need for strong medical privacy protections.
Medical information continues to be used for inappropriate purposes.
The rule itself highlights a number of cases where private medical information was released for profit and marketing purposes - completely unrelated to the treatment of those patients. Patients should not be put in the position of withholding information or even lying about their medical conditions to preserve their privacy. Those seeking medical treatment are most vulnerable and should be allowed to focus on their treatment or the treatment of their loved ones, rather than on trying to maintain their privacy. It is unfair that those citizens must be concerned that information about their medical condition could be provided to others who have no legitimate need to see that information. Since the substantive issues related to the rule have been vetted, these comments examine and respond to the criticisms of the rule and highlight important provisions that should be kept or strengthened.