WASHINGTON, DC -- The American Health Information Management Association told a House Subcommittee on information policy that Congress must act to expand protections for personal health records, resolve inconsistencies involving the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and pass comprehensive nondiscrimination legislation that penalizes the intentional misuse of an individual's health information before the privacy, quality and mobility of patient health information, specifically personal health records (PHR), can be assured.

Testifying on behalf of the more than 51,000 members of AHIMA was AHIMA President Bryon Pickard, MBA, RHIA, who told a House subcommittee on information policy, "Health information privacy protections must follow personal health information or PHI, no matter where it resides. Uniform, universal protections for PHI should apply across all jurisdictions in order to facilitate understanding and compliance."

Pickard said AHIMA has "long called for consumer-based personal health records in addition to standard provider-based electronic health records. Consumers should track their current health status and have an overall healthcare awareness." But before this can happen, he said, the industry must resolve some important issues, including expansion of privacy protections for personal health records, differences between HIPAA "business associates" and non-covered third party contractors and protecting student health information by resolving conflicts that include HIPAA.
AHIMA members especially privacy officers, are noticing that the issue of confidentiality is moving beyond the healthcare industry, Pickard said. With the banking and finance industries handling health information more frequently it has become apparent that we must soon address the comprehensive protection of an individual's information; whether it is financial or health-related. The expansion of confidentiality management and protection is impacted not only by HIPAA, but also by the healthcare industry's continued transformation from a paper-intensive industry to one of electronic records transmissions.

"I wish I could tell you that the healthcare industry has been transformed into a fully electronic system, but, in fact, I cannot. We are in the midst of what will be a long transition."

The full text of Bryon Pickard's testimony is available on line at http://ahima.org/dc/CommentsTestimony.asp.

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