Dear Representative: 

I am writing to ask you to add your name to those of your bipartisan colleagues in urging Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to fix and fund the new patient medical privacy regulations issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Four leading members of the House, Representatives Greg Walden (R-OR), Cal Dooley (D-CA), Mike Pence (R-IN) and David Phelps (D-IL), are spearheading the bipartisan letter. 

I know from my experience at our hospital that hospitals are committed to protecting the privacy of their patients' medical information. We believe that patients have the right to every consideration of privacy, including the right to review and understand their medical records. However, in their current form, the HIPAA privacy rules are unworkable for both our patients and caregivers and excessively costly for the hospital. 

We believe the rules, if not fixed, would undermine our efforts to provide 
quality patient care, unreasonably increase costs for hospital compliance, and overwhelm patients and hospitals with thousands of pages of redundant paperwork while failing to effectively advance the cause of patient privacy. 

Further, the costs of implementing the HIPAA privacy rule will be substantial. Hospitals need help in addressing the tremendous financial burden the rules will force upon hospitals because of the expensive new technology, training programs and high legal and administrative costs that will be required.  America’s hospitals are urging Secretary Thompson to address our concerns, first and foremost to ensure that our patients are not either frustrated or harmed by the rules. While the Bush Administration has announced its intent to remedy these flaws in the rule, your support for this bipartisan letter is needed to ensure that they do so in a manner that effectively protects your community hospital and the patients we serve. 

Thank you. 

Sincerely,