April 27, 2001
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of The United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Re: Health Information Privacy Regulations
Dear President Bush:
On behalf of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the thousands of patients our members serve, I want to convey our most sincere thanks to you for deciding to permit the health information privacy regulations to become effective as scheduled on April 14, 2001. We strongly agree with your statement that those regulations represent “a tremendous victory for American consumers.” We further agree with your conclusion that protecting the privacy of identifiable health information is essential to preserving access to quality health care. As the Supreme Court and the Surgeon General have concluded, effective psychotherapy cannot be provided without an assurance that therapist-patient communications will not be disclosed without the patient's consent.
While privacy protections are unquestionably necessary for quality health care, we believe that your decision showed courage and leadership on an issue of utmost importance to the public. It is this kind of leadership that increases the public's confidence in government.
We note the favorable essay by William Safire in which he states: “But the tide she is a-turning. We have a Congress that is getting the word from constituents; a judiciary that remembers Justice Brandeis and his ‘right to be let alone’; a press beginning to assign privacy as a beat; and a man in the White House who may not be averse to being thought of as the privacy president” (“The Privacy President?,” New York Times, April 19, 2001). We hope that Mr. Safire is correct. If he is, your position on this issue will become part of a legacy that will be remembered and appreciated by all Americans for at least as long as Justice Brandeis's famous statement.
We thank you for you for principled leadership and look forward to working with your Administration to ensure that the promise of medical privacy becomes a reality for all Americans.
Very truly yours,
Richard P. Fox, M.D.
President
American Psychoanalytic Association