[IP] new fed reporting rules may destroy SOME patients' medical privacy
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jim Warren <jwarren@xxxxxxxx>
Date: December 22, 2005 7:08:35 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: new fed reporting rules may destroy SOME patients' medical
privacy
I can't think of a much more effective way to make sure that people
at risk AVOID-at-all-costs, the risk of getting tested for HIV/AIDS.
Reminds me of Niemoller's famous quote -- "First they came for the
Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then the
came after ... Then ... Then when they came for me, there was no one
left to stand up for me." But of course, they'd never require
information on EVERYone's private sex-lives. Would they?
--jim
New HIV Reporting Guidelines Could Endanger Privacy AIDS Group Warns
by Doug Windsor, 365Gay.com New York Bureau
(New York City) An advocacy group for people with HIV/AIDS is
warning that proposed new federal regulations could endanger the
privacy of PWAs.
The Centers for Disease Control is implementing the Program
Evaluation and Monitoring System (PEMS). It requires unprecedented
surveillance requirements for federally funded HIV prevention
programs.
Among the regulations is a provision requiring local AIDS groups
that get federal funding to provide the CDC with details about
every patient, including their sex life and partners.
But the agency has not said how it will assure the confidentiality
of the data.
The Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), a national
advocacy group, said Wednesday that the new regulations should
raise alarm bells.
It notes that some legal experts believe could be subpoenaed in
states where there are laws that criminalize HIV transmission.
CHAMP warns that this could deter people from being frank in
counseling, and could prevent people from accessing services and
getting prevention support.
"We are eager to collect necessary information that will help us
continue to improve our prevention efforts but we share widespread
public concern about government monitoring," Julie Davids,
Executive Director of CHAMP said in a statement.
"PEMS prioritizes invasive data collection above the actual work of
HIV prevention itself, threatening to turn educators into
interrogators and overwhelm already understaffed HIV prevention
agencies with paperwork."
Davids also noted that abstinence-only programs are barely
monitored by the CDC and are getting funding increases "despite no
evidence that they prevent HIV, and much documentation that they do
spread misinformation."
Davids called for a postponement of deadlines for all programs to
become PEMS-compliant and for fundamental changes in the program.
She said that the CDC needs to assure that community providers who
speak out will not be penalized with funding cuts.
©365Gay.com 2005
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