Privacy act is crucial, AHIMA tells Congress
The proposed Fair Health Information Practices Act of 1997 (HR 552) is an important step toward ensuring that the individual’s right to privacy is protected, Merida L. Johns, PhD, RRA, told the congressional Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee in Washington, DC, in June. Johns is president of Chicago-based American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Gary Condit (D-CA), establishes a code of fair information practices and a uniform national standard for the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information. Many of the bill’s provisions mirror those contained in AHIMA’s own model confidentiality bill, developed in 1993.
"For the past 69 years, AHIMA and its members have assumed the responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of health information," Johns told subcommittee members. "Our efforts have been complicated by the lack of federal preemptive legislation. AHIMA believes that the Fair Health Information Practices Act is a solution to this dilemma."
Development of a national information infrastructure is a key component of health care reform, Johns said. "Efforts to reform this country’s health care delivery system will rely heavily on administrative simplification and computerization of health information to control costs, improve quality of care and increase efficiency." That means it is imperative, Johns continued, that health information be created, authenticated, and retained in electronic form. Computer-based patient records have several benefits, such as the following:
• Health care providers would have more complete information about patients instantly and easily.
• Care would be improved through the ability to access knowledge databases and on-line expert systems.
• Information systems would reduce the burden of paperwork.
• Aggregated data from these medical records would aid research.
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