Academic health centers protest privacy protection proposal

A group representing academic medical centers has come out against new privacy protections being considered by Congress as part of the health IT legislation contained in President Obama's proposed economic stimulus package.

The House Ways and Means Committee is considering legislation that would toughen up HIPAA protections, restoring such features as a requirement that patient consent be obtained before sharing protected health information and expanded criminal penalties for extreme HIPAA violations.

But the group, the Association of Academic Health Centers, argues that even existing HIPAA requirements have significantly hindered academic medical research. HIPAA has slowed the pace and ave raised the cost of such projects, according to one survey taken of 54 academic research heads at 27 centers.

They suggest that beefing up HIPAA in this manner could threaten U.S. competitiveness in science worldwide.

To learn more about this research:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

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