HIPPA - National Individual Identifier

[Guest Ray Rogers]

Does anyone know the status of this aspect of HIPPA? As I recall, some members of Congress have been delaying funding for any system of National identification of individuals.

[Greg Judd]

The handiest source of info I've found on HIPAA developments is HIPAAdvisory.com, which has the following story about the House's 6/13 vote to withhold funding for work on the individual identifier (the health care provider & facility identifiers are going forward). The story begins "On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Congressman Ron Paul's amendment to an appropriations bill which will prohibit the federal government from imposing a "uniform standard health identifier" on the American people."

[Guest Ray Rogers]

Thanks Greg. I sent the following message to congressman Ron Paul:

"I was disappointed to learn that you have once again been successful in preventing funding the development of a unique health identifier for individuals. With your medical background, you must know how critical this step is to the efficient electronic transmission and retention of both medical claims and data, including the results of

laboratory and diagonostic tests. If, as I assume to be the case, your concern is individual privacy, why not attack that issue straight on by mandating stringent controls on access to individual medical records whether they be in an electronic or any other format. In fact, I thought that was one of the things HIPPA was intended to accomplish. The medical community is way behind industry when it comes to acceptance of the the electronic world, in general, and the Internet, in particular, as a means of transmitting and rationalizing critical infromation. By your action, you preserve the status quo without assuring that the individual's confidential records are in any

way subject to improved safeguards. You merely: 1) keep claim administration costs at an unnecessarily high level and 2) make it difficult for the patient to authorize access to his or her complete and accurate medical

history if required at the time of treatment."

[This message has been edited by Ray Rogers (edited 06-28-2000).]