AFFIRMATIVE — MEDICAL — SIGNIFICANCE 217

USA IS IN A MEDICAL PRIVACY CRISIS

THE USA IS IN THE MIDST OF A HEALTH PRIVACY CRISIS

Kasper Zeuthen, The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo) September 7, 1999, SECTION: Pg. 7 TITLE: Reportage Nippon / Health information moves too freely in United States // acs-EE2001

The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, a committee of health care experts, reviewed the situation. It concluded in a report that the "United States is in the midst of a health privacy crisis" and asked the administration to assign top priority to dealing with the problem.

RIGHT TO HEALTH INFORMATION PRIVACY IS CRITICAL IN A FREE SOCIETY

Hugh Scully, M.D., president of the Canadian Medical Association, The Toronto Star, December 10, 1999, TITLE: PATIENT PRIVACY MUST BE PROTECTED // acs-EE2001

The right of privacy is fundamental in a free and democratic society.

The governing principles and rules for the privacy of information must recognize and include the right of privacy of health information. They must include the patient's right to determine with whom he or she will share information and his or her right to exercise control over the use of health information.

PUBLIC VIEWS COMPUTERIZATION OF MEDICAL REORDS AS A SERIOUS THREAT TO PRIVACY

John Morrissey Modern Healthcare, February 7, 2000, Pg. 3 TITLE: ...while medical records security issue grows in influence // acs-EE2001

Indeed, a survey last year by the California HealthCare Foundation showed that the public viewed the computerization of medical records as the most serious threat to medical privacy. "We can't afford to have systems that don't have sufficient protection and integrity," says Shannah Koss, an executive at IBM Global Solutions who is in charge of services relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.