AHIMA floats privacy 'bill of rights'

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is looking to bridge what it sees as a yawning gap in health privacy protections with a seven-point bill of rights it hopes will push the healthcare industry to a “major paradigm shift” in patient privacy practices.

The bill is necessary because of “repeated abuses of access, accuracy, privacy and security of the most basic rights of individuals,’ said Vera Rulon, AHIMA’s president.

There are many entities that operate outside of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), AHIMA said, and there is a wide variance of regulations imposed by the states.

AHIMA tallies a number of rights that cover privacy of health information stored both in digital and paper form, including several that guarantee consumers cost-free access to their health information and that the information be as accurate and complete as possible.

Others deal with patients’ right in the case of medical identity theft, the need for a national privacy and security standard, and the right to a legal recourse in the event a breach of information causes someone harm.

It’s an educational effort to start with, the association says, which will build momentum over the next few weeks. By the beginning of the Health Information & Technology Week in early November, AHIMA expects to have a range of printed products for both physicians and patients to use in promoting privacy protections.

However, in introducing the bill at its annual meeting in Dallas on Monday, AHIMA said it may require legislation to prod the healthcare industry into making the required changes.