1601 N. Tucson Blvd. Suite 9
Tucson, AZ 85716-3450
Phone: (800) 635-1196
Hotline: (800) 419-4777
 Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc.
A Voice for Private Physicians Since 1943
Omnia pro aegroto

February 9, 2000

ACTION ALERT! STOP BIG BROTHER

There are only eight more days before the deadline (February 17) to submit your comments on the "privacy" regulations.

To help with the technical details, the Liberty Study Committee has set up a convenient web site. Go to www.StopBigBrother.org , write your comments, "submit," and you're done!

If you have lost previous alerts and our analysis of the regulations, we'll reFAX the package to you: leave us a message at (800) 419-4777. There is also more information at www.aapsonline.org and www.forhealthfreedom.org.

Give your patients a chance to express themselves on this issue, even if they don't want to write comments. Photocopy the form on the next page, and send us the replies. Make enough copies so that patients can keep one. These forms will help us alert patients to the need for future actions.

Download MS Word file of below form

PATIENT PRIVACY ALERT!!!

DO YOU WANT YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS TO BE AN OPEN
FILE WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT?

The government is about to change the rules about who has access to your medical records.

These new rules will make it easier for a wide range of individuals, government agencies and groups to get your private records.

Here's what your privacy consent form might as well say if these new rules pass:

  • I agree to let the government decide who gets my medical records, including genetic information.
  • I agree to a 30-day delay in access to my own records and to federal governmental restrictions on my right to see and copy my own records.
  • I agree to allow the government to assign a "Patient Identifier Number" to me, and to enter it and all my records into a centralized government database.
  • I agree to allow any of the following to look at my private medical records:

Federal bureaucrats The police The FBI and the IRS
Planners Medical researchers Banks & credit card companies
Any hospital employee Prosecutors Health care overseers
Any health plan employee Medical students Public health officials

Name (no signature required)________________________Date______

Here's what we think your consent form SHOULD be:

I claim my constitutional right to privacy, and expressly forbid my physician , and anyone acting under his or her control, from releasing any of my medical records to a third party without my express written consent.

In particular, I decline to consent to the release of my medical records for the purpose of entry into a computer database which may be accessed by third parties outside of the offices or hospitals used by my physician.

Name_________________________________________________________ Date_____________

Address______________________________________________City_____________________ State____ Zip__________

FAX___________________________E-mail__________________________

Please circle the form you prefer, and return to your doctor. We will it forward to Congress.

For more information, call the AAPS Patient Hotline at (800) 419-4777, or go to www.StopBigBrother.org to send an immediate message to Congress or comments to HHS (deadline for public comments to HHS is Feb. 17, 2000).

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is dedicated to protecting the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons 1601 N. Tucson Blvd. Suite 9 Tucson AZ 85716 (800) 635-1196 www.aapsonline.org