Policy & Advocacy

You should decide who sees your health records — not Congress, not corporations, not data brokers. We're working to make that the law.

Legislative victories

HITECH Act (2009)

We secured landmark federal protections for your health data. These include banning the sale of your health information without permission and requiring companies to tell you when your data is breached.

Can't sell your health data without permission

You can see who has accessed your records

Sensitive records can be kept separate from your general file

Must notify you when your data is breached

You have the right to copies of your medical records

Health data must be encrypted

Texas HB 300 (2011)

We helped create one of the strongest state privacy laws in the country, going further than federal rules to protect patients in Texas.

Stricter rules about when your consent is required

Bigger penalties for organizations that break the rules

Broader requirements to tell you about data breaches

Privacy training required for everyone who handles your data

Ongoing advocacy

Electronic Health Records

Monitoring how hospitals adopt electronic records and share your information through national health data networks.

Federal Privacy Law

Tracking updates to the federal rules that protect your health data, including privacy, security, and breach notification requirements.

State Privacy Laws

Tracking privacy protections and breach notification rules in all 50 states, since federal law doesn't cover everything.

Coalition for Patient Privacy

PPR leads a bipartisan coalition of 50+ organizations representing over 10 million Americans, united in defending patient control over personal health information.

Join the coalition Learn more