AFFIRMATIVE — COUNTERPLAN — STATES/FEDERALISM — ANSWERS 42

FEDERAL LAW IS NEEDED FOR MEDICAL PRIVACY

FEDERAL LAW IS NEEDED IN MEDICAL RECORDS TO TAKE CARE OF INTERSTATE PATIENTS

Karen Hsu, Globe Correspondent, The Boston Globe, July 15, 1999, SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A12 TITLE: Group offers rules covering patient privacy, medical data access // acs-EE2001

John Glaser, vice president and chief information officer of Partners HealthCare System Inc., said he prefers a strong federal privacy law as a framework.

"At Partners, a lot of patients cross state lines such as Vermont and Maine," Glaser said.

CONGRESS IS THE IDEAL AGENT TO CONTROL MEDICAL RECORDS

Modern Healthcare, April 10, 2000, SECTION: Pg. 70 TITLE: Unnecessarily complex // acs-EE2001

Congress now should reclaim responsibility for protecting the privacy of all patient records, paper or electronic. However imperfect its own processes, Congress is accountable to voters, who are profoundly and justifiably concerned about the whittling away of their privacy.

HOSPITALS FEAR HAVING TO MEET MANY DIFFERENT STATE MEDICAL RECORD LAWS

Kristen Hallam, Modern Healthcare, May 03, 1999; Pg. 12 TITLE: FEDS: PRICE OF PRIVACY MAY BE TOO HIGH FBI, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAY PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY BILLS WOULD THREATEN FRAUD CRACKDOWN // acs-VT2001

Hospitals support Bennett's legislation because it establishes national standards, relieving them of the burden of having to comply with differing state standards.

STATE ACTION IS IMPOSSIBLE IN THE AREA OF MEDICAL RECORDS PRIVACY

Robert Gellman, Privacy and Information Policy Consultant and Fellow of the Cyberspace Law Institute, Personal, Legislative, and Technical Privacy Choices," VISIONS OF PRIVACY: Policy Choices for the Digital Age, 1999, EE2001 -JGM, p. 131 -2

Few state or federal laws apply to health information maintained by insurers, researchers, public health authorities, auditors, and others in 8 the health care establishment beyond physicians or hospitals. In any event, because health care treatment and payment are largely interstate activities today, state laws cannot provide comprehensive or uniform rules that apply beyond the borders of the state.