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Recent Court Cases: Patient Privacy (HIPAA)

Multiple lawsuits have been filed in the federal courts to block implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s privacy rule.

On August 30, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services ("DHHS"). The basis of the suit: that the agency’s privacy regulations infringe upon the physicians’ and their patients’ constitutional rights.

In July, the South Carolina Medical Association and the Louisiana State Medical Society also filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that the HIPAA law itself is unlawful.

A few of the major allegations in these lawsuits are as follows:

• The government is unconstitutionally gaining access to personal medical records without a warrant or patient consent;

• The government’s access to physician-patient communications is resulting in a chilling effect in their communications with each other;

• The DHHS exceeded its authority when it issued the privacy regulations.

These lawsuits are in their initial phases. By the time either of these cases, or others that may be filed in the near future, reach a conclusion, the HIPAA privacy rule’s implementation deadline will, no doubt, have arrived. Health care providers must move forward now with development and implementation of a privacy compliance program, notwithstanding the inevitable challenges in court to a burdensome law and its regulations.

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