WASHINGTON (AP) — Those medical privacy rules you run into at hospitals, pharmacies and in your own doctor's office are getting an update.
Regulations unveiled this week by the Obama administration create new information rights that should make life easier for consumers. They also tighten restrictions on medical service providers trying to use patient information for marketing, and they greatly expand the list of businesses that can be punished for unauthorized disclosures.
"The government has taken pretty dramatic steps to strengthen privacy protections that previously existed for consumers," said Dianne Bourque, a Boston lawyer specializing in medical regulation. The long-awaited rules carry out a 2009 law promoting electronic medical records and updating federal privacy protections.
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