NEGATIVE — MEDICAL — DISADVANTAGES — RESEARCH 254

MEDICAL PRIVACY PROTECTION STOPS BENEFICIAL MEDICAL RESEARCH

A. MEDICAL RECORD PRIVACY REGULATIONS WILL STOP INNOVATIONS WHICH WILL SAVE LIVES

Patrick G. Hays, chief executive officer and president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. USA TODAY, July 26, 1999, SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 14A TITLE: Privacy proposals too restrictive // acs-EE2001

Legislation should be flexible enough to permit innovation and the advance of technology. Today's health plans aid consumers by using medical-records data to help physicians immediately identify potential problems -- such as drug allergies, missing lab results or dangerous drug interactions. If Congress had tried to fashion prescriptive constraints on the use of information five years ago, we wouldn't have seen the development of programs that today have such a clear benefit for consumers.

B. LOSS OF OPENNESS WILL SEVERELY RESTRICT THE WORK OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

ROBERT LEE HOTZ, Los Angeles Times, May 18, 1999, SECTION: Part A; Page 1; TITLE: SECRECY IS OFTEN THE PRICE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH FUNDING// acs-EE2001

"The problem these days is that commercial organizations try to attach very severe restrictions on our ability to function in an open manner," said Nobel laureate David Baltimore, president of Caltech.

"If the laboratory ever lost its sense of openness, we would lose one of the core values that lead to great science," Baltimore said.

"Openness is a necessity."