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Government limits prosecutions under medical privacy law

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has decided that most health care employees can't be prosecuted for stealing personal data under a privacy law intended to protect medical information.

The ruling could jeopardize the lone conviction obtained under medical privacy rules that took effect in 2003 and could stop federal prosecutors from pursuing some of the more than 13,000 complaints that have been filed alleging violations of those rules.

The health care industry has long sought to limit the rules and the 1996 privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, on which they are based.

Hospitals, insurers, doctors and other health care providers that bill for their services are subject to criminal prosecution under the law, according to the June 1 memo signed by Steven G. Bradbury, the Justice lawyer who heads the office of legal counsel.

But a hospital clerk, for example, and other employees cannot face criminal penalties because the law doesn't apply to them, Bradbury wrote.

Robert Gellman, a consultant on privacy and information policy, said the memo leaves the bulk of the health care work force outside that interpretation. "In terms of the misuse of records, it's not health care professionals who are the likely problems," Gellman said.

[Last modified June 8, 2005, 01:08:09]