Additional information from the House Banking Committee's hearing on the Medical Financial Privacy Protection Act, including hyperlinks to witness testimony

Source: US House of Representatives
[Click here for Chairman Leach's full statement]

...''The major provisions of the bill, H.R. 4585, which is the principal subject matter of the hearing, are as follows:

  • Financial institutions will be required to obtain customer's affirmative consent ("opt in") before disclosing individually identifiable health information to an affiliate or non-affiliated third party.
  • A financial institution will be prohibited from obtaining or using individually identifiable health information in deciding whether to issue credit, unless the prospective borrower expressly consents.
  • Information relating to mental health or mental condition will be singled out for particular protection with separate and specific customer consent required to disclose such information, and special policies developed by regulators to protect its confidentiality.
  • Consumers will be given the right to inspect, copy, and correct individually identifiable health information that is under the control of a financial institution.
  • Strict limitations will be placed on the redisclosure and reuse of individually identifiable health information legitimately obtained by a financial institution.
  • Nothing will be done to modify, limit or supersede medical privacy standards promulgated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services pursuant to authority granted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Witness list for the full committee hearing on HR 4585
Source: US House of Representatives
June 14, 2000
Panel I

Panel II

 Panel III

  • Richard K. Harding, President Elect, American Psychiatric Association, Vice Chair, Clinical Affairs and Professor of Psychiatrics and Pediatrics, University of South Carolina School of Medicine
  • Steve Bartlett, President, Financial Services Roundtable
  • Don Brain, President of Lockton Benefit Company, Kansas City, Missouri on behalf of Independent Insurance Agents of America
  • Robert H. Rheel, Senior Vice President, Fireman. s Fund, on behalf of American Insurance Association
  • Edward L. Yingling, Deputy Executive Vice President, American Bankers Association
  • Robbie Meyer, Senior Counsel, American Council of Life Insurers

Panel IV

  • Nicole Beason, Esther Peterson Fellow, Consumers Union
  • A.G. Breitenstein, Chief Privacy Officer, ChoosingHealth.com
  • Evan Hendricks, Editor and Publisher, Privacy Times
  • Edmund Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director, U.S. Public Interest Research Group
  • Joy L. Pritts, Senior Counsel, Health Privacy Group, Georgetown University
  • Ronald Weich, Attorney, Zuckerman, Spaeder, Goldstein, Taylor and Kolker, LLP on behalf of American Civil Liberties Union

Testimony submitted for the record (witness did not appear before the Committee):America's Community Bankers

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