"Members also know that whatever confidential or personal information must be disclosed will be held in strictest confidence and used only to settle their insurance problem." Our Association has always adhered to the policy that a member's privacy is paramount.

Concerns over the privacy of members' medical information are not new. Several years ago, hearings on that issue were held at the State House, focusing then on the controversy over the Group Insurance Commission's release of medical/insurance information to researchers studying medical utilization by retirees and employees (March 1997 Voice).

Now the federal government has stepped forward and made its mark. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the feds have issued privacy rules which require most employers that offer health benefits to implement policies and procedures aimed at maintaining the privacy of medical information for retirees and other insureds.

These rules, which went into effect recently, cover not only the private sector but also public employers that are self-insured. This means that the Commonwealth and any municipality, which is also self-insured like the state, must comply with the new HIPAA rules.

"From our perspective, the privacy rules may complicate how we currently help most members with their insurance problems, but they will not prevent us from providing the same level of service as we do now," comments Stillman. "More importantly, whatever inconvenience we may encounter with the rules is far outweighed by protecting the privacy of our members' health information."