The American Health Information Management Association has issue a Health Information Bill of Rights (pdf). The Preamble states:
[…]
AHIMA has established these seven measures for the sole purpose of protecting healthcare consumers. Ours is a comprehensive set of liberties to safeguard every individual’s right to lawful access of their personal health information; to prevent unauthorized access to that information; to promote its best possible accuracy; and to seek proper remedy when any such privilege is violated.
The motive for unauthorized, illegitimate, and criminal invasion of a person’s health information covers a broad range: from prying to profit to otherwise unattainable patient care. However, no rationale for denying, invading, and misinforming or mismanaging one’s health information rises above one’s right of access, security, accuracy, and responsible
portability.As America’s foremost authority on the proper management of health information, we set forth this slate.We stand— in authority—behind the validity of each of these protections as we stand beside the individuals whose rights these protections seek to defend.
The seven rights enumerated are:
- The right to access your health information free of charge
- The right to access your health information during the course of treatment
- The right to expect that your health information is accurate and as complete as possible
- The right for you or your personal representative(s) to know who provides, accesses, and updates your health information, except as precluded by law or regulation
- The right to expect healthcare professionals and others with lawful access to your health information to be held accountable for violations of all privacy and security laws, policies, and procedures, including the sharing of user IDs and passwords
- The right to expect equivalent health information privacy and security protections to be available to all healthcare consumers regardless of state or geographic boundaries or the location (jurisdiction) of where the treatment occurs
- The right to the opportunity for private legal recourse in the event of a breach of one’s
health information that causes harm