GET THE FACTS

To:        ALL REPORTERS & EDITORS

From:    CITIZENS FOR HEALTH

            THE AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION

            NATIONAL COALITION OF MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND CONSUMERS

Date:     April 11, 2003

Re:        VIRTUAL PRESS CONFERENCE

ON APRIL 110th WE EXPOSED THE TRUE AGENDA BEHIND THE HYPE

On behalf of groups representing the consumers and practitioners of health care in the United States, Citizens for Health, 
the American Psychoanalytic Association and the National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers, Inc.
announced a Lawsuit to challenge new federal regulations mandating the way medical records are handled.     

The announcement comes only days before the final deadline for new privacy standards to be implemented under the 
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (known as HIPAA), as ordered by the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services. Across the country, doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes and 
other agencies providing health-related services are scrambling to have their own privacy policies in place by next week.
But, all the hard work and well-intentioned effort are nothing more than a façade.

The mistruths and misnomers will be the focus of an extensive effort by patients’ groups and doctors’ organizations which
have pooled resources to not only challenge the constitutionality of the regulations, but also to educate Americans about the
looming loss of medical privacy and urge Congress to pass legislation that will restore the rights that will be forfeited under HIPAA.

The press joined us for a media briefing in the form of a VIRTUAL PRESS CONFERENCE at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, April 10^th.

We will provide copies of our news release and other supplements via the Medical Privacy Coalition website at 
www.MedicalPrivacyCoalition.org and, upon specific request, by fax.

Broadcast journalists can arrange to videotape interviews by calling (212) 752 0450, Ext 29. For your convenience,
these interviews can be taped in one of the following cities: Washington, D.C, or Austin, Texas.