WASHINGTON — The American Medical Association is opposing a change to patient privacy laws that would allow doctors to more freely share information about a patient’s history of substance use, a proposal that has divided the health care community and highlighted some of the challenges of addressing the opioid epidemic.
In a letter to lawmakers obtained by STAT, the AMA said it believed there was a “fundamental misunderstanding” among groups working to incorporate the proposal into a sprawling opioids bill. Relaxing restrictions on patient privacy, the AMA wrote, could prevent individuals with addiction from seeking medical treatment in the first place.
The letter to Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is a potentially fatal blow to the proposal, which has long enjoyed Walden’s support and that of a wide array of other lawmakers, including the House’s 12 physicians.
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