Thursday, April 07, 2005

APA Raises Privacy Concerns on Mental Health Records APA press release - "Patient privacy of mental health records was the focus yesterday during a hearing in Chicago, Illinois on the proposed National Health Information Network, which is an element of the Health Information Technology initiative put forth by President Bush in April 2004. The hearing was held by the Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics whose charge it is to make recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services as to what privacy protections are necessary to implement an effective electronic health record. Testifying on behalf of the American Psychological Association, Russ Newman, Ph.D., J.D., executive director for professional practice, raised concerns regarding the need to maintain an extraordinarily high level of privacy where mental health records are concerned."