The US government has enacted stringent new privacy rules requiring doctors, hospital personnel and other health care workers to obtain precise written consent from patients for the use or disclosure of their medical information.
Violations are punishable by civil or criminal penalties, including fines or jail.
Written in the waning days of the Clinton administration, the rules were championed by consumer advocacy groups as a landmark in the history of American medicine, and derogated by health care providers and professional organizations as expensive, burdensome and unworkable. In addition to written consent, the rules require health care providers to disclose to their patients who has access to their medical information, how that information is being used, and who has actually seen it. Patient consent is also required before a doctor can disclose information for routine purposes like treatment or payment of claims, and patients are allowed to revoke their consent at any time. Patients will also have the right to see their medical records and request changes or corrections. The reaction of most segments of the health care industry to the new rules was immediate, thunderous and negative.