[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2352 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2352

               To protect the privacy rights of patients.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 24, 1998

  Mr. Leahy (for himself, Mr. Ashcroft, and Mr. Burns) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                                Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
               To protect the privacy rights of patients.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Patient Privacy Rights Act of 
1998''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) individuals have a right to confidentiality with 
        respect to their personal health information and records;
            (2) with respect to information about medical care and 
        health status, the traditional right of confidentiality is at 
        risk;
            (3) an erosion of the right of confidentiality will reduce 
        the willingness of patients to confide in physicians and other 
        practitioners, thus jeopardizing quality health care;
            (4) fear that confidentiality is being compromised will 
        deter individuals from seeking medical treatment and stifle 
        technological or medical research and development; and
            (5) advancing technology should not lead to a loss of 
        personal privacy.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    It is the purpose of this Act--
            (1) to repeal the implementation of a ``standard unique 
        health identifier for each individual'' as required under 
        section 1173(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d-
        2(b)) as added by the amendment made by section 262(a) of the 
        Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 
        (Public Law 104-191); and
            (2) to guarantee that medical privacy protections are not 
        undermined by Federal law.

SEC. 4. REPEAL OF FEDERAL UNIQUE HEALTH IDENTIFIER.

    Sections 1173(b) and 1177(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1320d-2(b); 42 U.S.C. 1320d-6(a)(1)) are repealed.
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