To Keep Minnesota State Government Out of Your Medical Records, Email or Write a Letter Today!

REGARDING: The Minnesota Department of Health's plan (proposed rule) to collect, store and use individually-identifiable medical record data without patient consent: Proposed Permanent Rules Relating to Administrative Billing Data, Minnesota Rules, Chapter 4653.

MINNESOTA HEALTH DEPARTMENT WANTS DATE OF BABY'S CONCEPTION: Health Officials Set to Collect Detailed Patient Data without Patient Consent

State health officials will have access to confidential medical information. They will know who goes to the doctor, what for, who treats them, with what, and for how long. The department will be able to profile patients and practitioners. The Department has gone so far as to require insurers to provide them with the date a pregnancy begins," says Twila Brase, president of Citizens' Council on Health Care, a Minnesota health care policy organization.

Balanced Against Other Interests, Patient Privacy Lost Out in Bush Administration's Modification of Federal Medical Privacy Rule

The Bush Administration's modification of the final federal medical privacy did not focus on the privacy needs of patients. It focused on the health care industry's desire for date, says one health care policy organization.

Would a Medicare Drug Plan Follow Oregon's New Drug Rationing Process?

If Congress passes a Medicare drug benefit next year, the Oregon Health Plan has provided federal officials with a process to limit medication choices. This should worry current and future Medicare recipients, says Citizens' Council on Health Care (CCHC), a Minnesota-based health care policy organization.

MN Health Powers Act Passes: Authorizes Health Officials to Detain Persons without a Court Order - any day, all year long

Although several citizen organizations testified multiple times against the provision, the MN Department of Health received authority to quarantine individuals and groups suspected of having a communicable or potentially communicable disease without a court order - 365 days a year.

MN Public Loses Rights in Health Powers Conference Committee

FIRST RIGHT: The first right to go was the right of the public to testify on the proposed legislation. Rep. Richard Mulder (R-Ivanhoe), chair of the committee and author of the bill (HF 3031), began the third hearing of the Conference Committee by saying public testimony would not be taken. It had not been allowed in the first hearing, but in the second hearing, thanks to the insistence of Rep. Lynda Boudreau (R-Faribault), the public was given permission to testify.

CCHC Testifies to Constitutional Concerns In Minnesota Health Powers Act

The Minnesota Emergency Health Powers Act has faulty reasoning and constitutional concerns according to Citizens' Council on Health Care (CCHC), a health care policy group which provided testimony in the Senate Health and Family Security Committee today.

CCHC Closed Meeting Provision Attached to Anti-Terrorism Bill

Closed meetings on security and emergency response procedures should not include discussions and decisions about medical procedures that impact the physical bodies of citizens, says Citizens' Council on Health Care (CCHC). The Civil Law Committee agreed. The amendment proposed by CCHC, and approved by the bill's author, was attached to the Minnesota House anti-terrorism bill (HF 2746).

HHS Unveils 24/7 Plan to Track Patients

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today released $1.1 billion and a plan to build government health surveillance systems in every state. The stated goal: to enhance public health infrastructure for bioterrorism preparedness. The plan: government access to everyone's medical record through their hospitals and doctor's offices.

"Freedom's Victory" Not Found in President's Pledge to Public Health Surveillance

Although President Bush stated that "America will lead by defending liberty and justice, because they are right and true and unchanging for all people everywhere," CCHC is concerned about a single sentence of the speech: "Knowledge gained from bioterrorism research will improve public health."