Press Releases • Oct 2016 • Health Surveillance • Minnesota Engagement • Patient Privacy

Patients Could Lose Consent and Privacy Rights Over Their Medical Records

For Immediate Release
October 13, 2016
 
MEDIA CONTACT:
Hamilton Strategies, 610.584.1096, ext. 104, or  Media@HamiltonStrategies.com
 
Patients Could Lose Consent and Privacy

Rights Over Their Medical Records
 
Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom Urges Minnesotans to

Email the Minnesota Department of Health by Oct. 17 to

Communicate Their Support of the State’s ‘Unique’ Privacy Laws
 
ST. PAUL, Minn.—Will Minnesotans lose control over their private medical records?
 
Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org), a national patient-centered health freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minn., believes that the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is gathering information from insurers, hospitals and others to convince state legislators to repeal Minnesota’s strongest-in-the-nation medical privacy law.
 
CCHF is alerting Minnesotans about this threat to their privacy. If they succeed, CCHF reports, patients’ medical record data will be shared without consent to countless outsiders for:
1.    Treatment (62-word definition includes sharing with “third parties”)
2.    Payment (64-word definition includes “medical necessity” determinations)
3.    Health Care Operations (390-word “everything but kitchen sink” definition)
4.    Medical, Genetic and Health-Data Research 
5.    Military Personnel (unless required by federal law)
6.    Law Enforcement (without a warrant)
7.    Funeral Directors
8.    National Security Purposes (unless required by federal law)
 
Comments about this push to wipe out patient privacy in Minnesota are being accepted through email to MDH until 7 p.m. CT Oct. 17. Patients can take action by sending an email to MDH at MN.eHealth@state.mn.us with the subject line: “RFI: MHRA Costs and Impacts.” CCHF includes sample email text on the Action Alert section of its website and also suggests sending a similar email to local legislators.
 
“Today, Minnesotans have consent rights over this sharing only because of unique state privacy laws that, unlike HIPAA, actually protect privacy and consent rights,” said CCHF president and co-founder Twila Brase. “The Mayo Clinic communicated a Notice of Privacy Practices that highlights each of these state privacy rights guaranteed by the Minnesota Health Records Act.”

The Minnesota Department of Health, in its Request for Information, states, “Minnesota is nearly unique among states in requiring patient consent to disclose any type of health information to other providers, including for treatment purposes.”

“They’re right!” Brase added. “Minnesota is ‘unique!’ We have the strongest patient privacy laws in the nation and it appears that the Minnesota Department of Health and its ‘Big Health’ collaborators want to take that away from us.”

CCHF is urging Minnesotans to show their support for Minnesota privacy laws. With many emails from state residents, CCHF and its supporters can help keep patients in control of the use and sharing of their private medical information.

CCHF recently launched The Wedge of Health Freedom (www.JointheWedge.com), where doctors have said ‘no’ to costly and restrictive insurance contracts and government regulations. These Wedge practices, which are located in nearly 40 states, can be found online in a “map of freedom,” which displays the locations of doctors and other health care professionals around the country, where patients can find care that is affordable, confidential and patient-friendly.

For more information about CCHF, visit its web site at www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page or its Twitter feed @CCHFreedom. For more about The Wedge of Health Freedom, visit www.JointheWedge.com, The Wedge Facebook page or follow The Wedge on Twitter @wedgeoffreedom.

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