In addition to the drop in authorization from 96 percent to 38 percent, the researchers found that those who returned the HIPAA-compliant written consent were more likely to be older, to be married, or to have high blood cholesterol, than those who didn't. They were also less likely to be widowed.
There was also a significant difference in the ability to receive consent from a spouse or authorized relative to obtain information on patients who had died. Ten percent of the patients in the group where contact was made verbally or records were searched had died, versus 3.3 percent of the group contacted for written consent.
All in all, says Kline-Rogers, "HIPAA compliance will challenge researchers, institutions and ultimately patients as we try to learn about the outcomes of health care while trying to maintain patient privacy."
In addition to Eagle and Kline-Rogers, the study's authors are David Armstrong, a Cornell University student who performed much of the data gathering and analysis; Sandeep Jani, Jianming Fang, M.D., Anchal Sud, Krishna Rangarjan, Shaneen Doctor, Bruce C. Rogers, and Debra Smith.
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Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
11-Mar-2004