Health, consent and disclosure

The US Congress is considering how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 Privacy Regulation should be best implemented. The current tendency within Congress is to accede to the Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) demand to include a marketing exclusion in the final regulation. This would allow health insurers, hospitals and some other institutions under certain circumstances to disclose without prior authorisation a patient’s protected health information to third parties for marketing purposes. This move is highly controversial as it goes against the existing rule that prior authorisation is required. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) opposes the inclusion of such a marketing exclusion and questions HHS claims that it is necessary and will benefit consumers. Last week Wendy Pallow , legislative and regulatory counsel for the NAIC, testified before the National Committee on Vital Health Statistics Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality. Following is an extract from her testimony.