AHIMA Urges Secretary Thompson
Not to Delay the HIPAA Privacy Rule

CHICAGO, March 19—In a letter sent today, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) urged Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson to “stay the course” of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule and allow it to become effective April 14, 2001.

AHIMA's executive vice president and CEO, Linda Kloss, MA, RHIA, expressed AHIMA's concern that comments from others over the last two months-ranging from the belief that the rule is too costly to a desire to proceed at a much slower pace-demonstrate an interest in eliminating the rule in its entirety. “We acknowledges that privacy does have a cost and that the healthcare industry has real work to do in this area, but that it is time to earn back the patient's trust in this fundamental aspect of our health system,” Kloss said.

“AHIMA believes that the problems associated with the privacy rule can be addressed within technical modifications permitted under HIPAA,” Kloss wrote. “These modifications recognize and acknowledge logistical limitations in the (largely) paper-based healthcare systems. At the same time, the modifications allow the rule to take effect while the healthcare professions adopt, refine, and use electronic information to provide better care and privacy for the American people."

AHIMA's letter to Thompson does not represent the Association's technical comments on the privacy rule. AHIMA will respond to Thompson's request for technical comments in the next few weeks. For a copy of the letter, visit AHIMA's Web site at http://www.ahima.org/thompson.html.