AAPS Files Lawsuit in Attempt to Stop HIPAA Privacy Regs

July 31, 2001 -- The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) announced today a new lawsuit against DHHS to halt implementation of the new medical privacy regulations written under HIPAA.

Unlike another lawsuit filed by the South Carolina Medical Association which says the rules are unconstitutional because they were drawn up by a federal agency and not Congress, this lawsuit challenges the actual constitutionality of the regulations themselves based on the content and outcomes.

The lawsuit claims the regulations are illegal in that they:

1. violate the Fourth Amendment by requiring physicians to allow government access to personal medical records without a warrant and authorizing the government construction of a centralized database of personal medical records with personal health identifiers;
2. are unconstitutional to the extent they govern purely intrastate activities by physicians in using and maintaining medical records for patients, and disrupt state laws;
3. violate HIPAA and lack statutory authorization to the extent they regulate medical records other than electronic transmissions;
4. violate the Paperwork Reduction Act and Paperwork Flexibility Act and are unenforceable and incomplete.

While issuing the statement at a news conference at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, AAPS Public Affairs Counsel Kathryn Serkes, said of the new HIPAA privacy regulations, "While masquerading as patient protection, the rules would actually eliminate any last shred of patient confidentiality." According to AAPS, a majority of doctors surveyed say that the proposed rules will further compromise patient privacy. Serkes went on to say, "While some of the rule's specifics could be ironed out down the road, no amount of fine-tuning can fix a flawed approach. These rules should be scrapped."