As of spring 2009, there is no federal Patient Bill or Rights that covers all medical patients. That is not, however, for lack of effort. Repeated attempts by Congress to pass a Patient Bill of Rights have stalled, most recently in 2004. Regulations issued in the 1990s, however, protect the rights of patients in federal health programs.
Identification
A patient bill of rights articulates the rights to which patients are entitled as recipients of health care services. It spells out the protections that health care providers should extend to patients.
History
In 1997, President Bill Clinton created a commission on consumer protection in health care and asked it to develop a patients' bill of rights. In 1998, he asked federal departments, including Health and Human Services, and Veterans' Affairs, to ensure that their programs comply with the patients bill of rights established by the commission. This includes Medicare.
Features
The rights articulated under the protections developed by the commission include the right to information, the right to a choice of health care providers, access to emergency care, privacy and nondiscriminatory care.
Function
Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2001 attempted to pass a patients' bill of rights for all Americans. The House of Representatives and the Senate passed differing versions, which remain unreconciled as of the spring of 2009.
Benefits
The Senate bill introduced in 2001 stated that patients in health care plans have the right to see medical specialists, go to the nearest emergency room for care, obtain needed prescriptions and appeal decisions when their plans deny care.
Potential
U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed health care reforms include a patients' bill of rights that would apply to all Americans.
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