Action Alerts • Oct 2017 • Medical Records • Minnesota Engagement • National Health Information Network (NHIN)

MN Action Alert: Protect and Control Your Health Information!

ACTION ALERT

PLEASE COMMENT TODAY!

STOP ATTACK ON STRONG MINNESOTA MEDICAL PRIVACY LAW

ACT NOW: Save your privacy rights from the "HIE House"  

DEADLINE: Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017 at 5:00 pm

Who will control your medical records? The MN Department of Health (MDH) is gathering comments from insurers, hospitals and others into a report in an attempt to convince state legislators to REPEAL Minnesota's strongest-in-the-nation medical privacy law to build a "optimal" Health Information Exchange (HIE) across Minnesota. 

We need you to SEND your comments ASAP! (due Tuesday, October 31, at 5:00pm.)

MDH and the coalition of health-care industry members want complete access to your data. The "HIE House" graphic is their visual. The ROOF is their goal. To arrive at fully connected data, they want to repeal Minnesota's medical privacy laws and conform MN law to the federal HIPAA "no privacy" rule. If they succeed, your medical record data will be shared without your consent to countless outsiders for the following activities, which today require consent in Minnesota:

  • Treatment (62-word definition includes sharing with "third parties")
  • Payment (64-word definition includes "medical necessity" determinations)
  • Health Care Operations (390-word "everything but kitchen sink" definition)
  • Medical, Genetic and Health-Data Research 
  • Military Personnel (unless required by federal law)
  • Criminal Justice System / Law Enforcement (without a warrant)
  • Funeral Directors
  • National Security Purposes (unless required by federal law)

In a working group meeting on Friday, Oct. 6, proponents of data-sharing discussed how to build the Health Information Exchange (HIE), including sharing data with the criminal justice system and/or law enforcement.

Today, YOU have consent rights over this sharing only because of MN privacy laws that unlike HIPAA actually protect your privacy and consent rights. The Mayo Clinic Notice of Privacy Practices highlights each of the eight activities that require consent in MN (see above) but under HIPAA can be shared without your consent.

The Minnesota Department of Health, in their Request for Public Comment, states: 

“The Minnesota Health Records Act (MHRA) currently requires consent for most disclosures outside of a ‘related health care entity’.”

They're right! Minnesota has the strongest privacy laws in the nation and the MN Department of Health and their Big Health collaborators want to take that away from us!
 

TAKE ACTION TODAY:

SEND simple email to MDH (MN.eHealth@state.mn.us). 

NOTE: Use the subject line: "HIE Study Comment". ALSO: cc your legislators (find your legislators) and CCHF (info@cchfreedom.org).

WHAT TO WRITE (in your own words, please): Tell MDH medical privacy is important. Tell them that getting your written consent to share your information is necessary. Tell them they shouldn’t be expanding who could have access to your information without your consent. Tell them HIPAA is a permissive law, allowing broad outsider access without consent (2.2 million entities, plus government agencies) and MN should not conform to it. Tell them you oppose getting rid of the protective language in the Minnesota Health Records Act. 

SAMPLE EMAIL: 

To whom it may concern,

My privacy and control in health care are very important to me and many others. Unlike the Minnesota Health Records Act (MHRA), HIPAA is a permissive data-sharing law and does not protect my privacy. I fully support the MHRA which is the strongest health care privacy law in the nation. It requires my consent to share my personal information. My privacy rights are incredibly important to the patient-doctor relationship and should not be eliminated just because people who want my data don’t want to ask me for my consent. My medical records and personal information are mine and should remain in my control. I absolutely oppose any changes to, or the repeal of the MHRA.

 

Sincerely,

"First and Last Name"

"City, State"

 
Helpful Links:

Please take the 5-10 minutes to send an email now to show your support for Minnesota privacy laws.

With your emails, we can stop this attack and help keep you in control of the use and sharing of your private medical information!
 

** We have attached a copy of the responses from the public - click view pdf to read, download or
print a copy. **

view pdf