Patient privacy issues facing health care.

As the next millennium approaches, we find ourselves in a world rich in technology that allows the health care industry to achieve business goals at lightning speed. But as the pace quickens, the issue of patient privacy still lags behind.

Predicting issues that electronic information would present to health care privacy, President Clinton signed into law the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act on Aug. 21, 1996. The legislation addressed protections for an estimated 25 million Americans, including a provision regarding the transfer and secured access of electronic health information. Plus, the act mandated that if Congress did not enact privacy …