January 2001 News Archives

January 31, 2001 AMA Releases Patient Privacy Guidelines The American Medical Association unveiled ethical guidelines calling on all participants in the health care system – from physicians, hospitals, and health plans, to employee benefits managers, unions, and others – to rigorously protect the confidentiality of any medical records entrusted to them. The report contains more than 30 specific, measurable expectations for protecting the privacy of identifiable patient information. Full Story.

January 30, 2001 Senator Introduces Internet Privacy Bill
Following an "opt-in" approach, this legislation would require software providers that use codes to track the activities of Internet users to notify consumers in plain language when the users buy or download programs. No information on Internet surfing habits could be collected without first obtaining each consumer's permission. Full Story.

January 29, 2001 Health Privacy May Dominate State Legislatures The most prevalent health insurance-related issues state legislatures will debate this year are a range of privacy initiatives and a host of bills mandating that health insurance cover specific services, according to a new state legislative forecast by the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA). Full Story.

January 29, 2001 New X-12 Version Released The new Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 4040 Release is now available. Incorporating new additions and modifications to the X12 standard, the 4040 Release is the most recent version of the X12 standard to date. The 4040 release can be ordered by calling 888-363-2334. Full Story.

January 26, 2001 Bush Moratorium Effect on Privacy Rule: Consensus of Legal Opinions Phoenix Health Systems, publishers of HIPAAlert, asked our regular legal columnist, Steve Fox, to write a special HIPAAdvisor article about President Bush's moratorium. An informal poll has found a consensus view. Also included are links to related news articles. Full Story.

January 25, 2001 EU Web Sites No More Private than US Despite tight European Union (EU) regulation, sites within the EU are no better at telling users how they use their data than sites based in the US. Indeed, some of the best privacy policies were found on US sites. Full Story.

January 25, 2001 House Considers Internet Privacy Legislation Following an "opt-out" approach, the bill would require web sites to give notice and an opportunity to limit use or disclosure of personally identifiable information. Full Story.

January 18, 2001 Tech Trade Group Supports Privacy Legislation Acknowledging growing concerns about online privacy, the American Electronics Association, the U.S.'s largest high-tech trade group, said Thursday the federal government should take the lead in setting rules on how businesses use personal data collected over the Internet. Full Story.

January 18, 2001 Coalition Urges Action for Privacy Protection Seventeen public interest organizations released a letter urging the incoming Presidential administration, members of Congress, and state officials to take greater action in protecting privacy. The group letter supports the adoption of a comprehensive framework of privacy protection that will protect consumers and citizens. Text of the Letter.

January 17, 2001 Survey Finds Health Plans Preparing for HIPAA The American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) released a study showing that most health plans are actively pursuing strategies to meet the electronic data interchange (EDI) and security components of HIPAA. Full Story.

January 16, 2001 Tech Industry Announces New Information Security Center Nineteen of the nation's leading high tech companies today announced the formation of a new Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC) to cooperate on cyber security issues. The objective of the IT-ISAC is to enhance the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of networked information systems. Full Story.

January 12, 2001 AHP Will Ask Bush to Retain Gift-Giving Provisions The Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) will ask the incoming Bush Administration to retain a key philanthropic provision of HIPAA. Full Story.

January 10, 2001 US Chamber Vows To Fight Privacy Legislation Particularly in the area of electronic privacy, the nation's most powerful business group is gearing up to fight any congressional effort to enact federal standards, US Chamber of Commerce Director of E-Commerce and Internet Technology Rick Lane said, according to a report in Newsbytes. Full Story.

January 10, 2001 New Working Group to Address Physician Communication on Internet Medem, in collaboration with over 30 malpractice carriers, today announced the creation of the eRisk Working Group for Healthcare along with a series of documents to help guide patient-physician communications on the Internet. Full Story.

January 8, 2001 New Congress to Focus on Privacy Legislators are confident that they will pass a series of tech bills including one protecting individuals' privacy online. Full Story.

January 5, 2001 Insurer E-mails Patient Data to Wrong Doctors Patient confidentiality was violated when a California insurer accidentally e-mailed the names of 12,000 patients to the wrong doctors, according to an . The mistake was blamed on a "computer glitch." Full Story.

January 2, 2001 Medical Privacy Makes List of Top Ten Privacy Stories of 2000 Workplace surveillance leads the list of the Top 10 privacy stories of the year 2000, according to a Privacy Foundation analysis. Also in the Top 10 are proposed new medical privacy rules; the FBI’s controversial use of the Carnivore email wiretap; DoubleClick’s stalled plan to track consumers online; and the arrival of chief privacy officers in corporate boardrooms. Full Story.

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