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Grade Spread Runs Gamut from F to A+

[By D. Kellus Pruitt DDS]

Are the interests of my dental patients in Fort Worth, Texas being adequately represented by their elected officials in Austin and Washington DC? Starting a few months ago, I’ve sent multiple emails concerning patient privacy and identity theft to my elected government officials on state and national levels; as a test of responsiveness.

The Elected Officials

These include:

• Texas US Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison
• US Representatives Joe Barton and Michael Burgess
• Texas State Senators Wendy Davis and Chris Harris
• Texas State Representatives Diane Patrick and Marc Veasey.

Of the 8 lawmakers I contacted through their Websites, I received no response from state officials Davis, Harris, Patrick and Veasey. However, from my national representation, only Joe Barton failed to reply. I simply have to give those 5 a grade of F. I assumed my state representatives would be more patient-friendly than members of the US Congress. But, I was wrong.

Texas US Senators 

US Senator Cornyn has responded twice: Once in September and again on December 6. In both emails he says,

“Dear Darrell Pruitt,

Thank you for contacting my offices. Your correspondence has been received, and we will respond to you as quickly as possible.”

I suppose there’s still hope for a response, but he also failed. Cornyn also earned an F.

On the other hand, I’m more disappointed with Kay Bailey Hutchison’s staff than John Cornyn’s. In all 3 of her identical responses to my emails, she addresses me as “Dear Friend,” before wasting my time with a vanilla lecture about the origin and intention of the HITECH Act that I can get from HHS:

“The HITECH Act includes privacy and security provisions to expand current requirements under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and strengthens the HIPAA privacy rule, blah, blah, blah.”

If Hutchison’s staff member had read the first paragraph of any of the three emails I sent before he or she assigned me the same canned response all three times, the bonehead would have recognized that an explanation of HIPAA was not what I needed from his or her boss. I’m pretty sure I know more about HIPAA than the Senator, and that is the reason I wrote her in the first place.

Senator Hutchison closed all three emails with,

“I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you. Sincerely, United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison”

Then she added,

“PLEASE DO NOT REPLY to this message as this mailbox is only for the delivery of outbound messages, and is not monitored for replies.”

Although I should have known better, following her dead-end reply, I returned to her Website and complimented the Senator for being my patients’ first elected official to respond to my emails. I told Kay Bailey how special her personal attention made me feel as an American… which attracted the same response, which quickly stopped that special feeling. Compared to Hutchison’s predictable responses, Senator Cornyn’s thin promises of a meaningful response some day don’t look so bad. Hutchison gets an F, but I’ll upgrade Cornyn to a D for incomplete.

Enter Dr. Michael Burgess 

And then there is Michael C. Burgess. Compared to this man, everyone else is just a failing politician, in my opinion. Dr. Burgess gets an A+.

In response to both emails I sent to US Representative Michael Burgess MD in the last few weeks, I received sincere, personalized responses. This week, I sent Dr. Burgess a copy of the timely comment I posted Tuesday on this Medical Executive-Post, “Is ‘encryption of PHI’ discussed in dentistry?”

https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2010/12/07/%e2%80%9cthe-ada-practical-guide-to-hipaa-compliance%e2%80%9d/#comment-9242

While Senator Hutchison is unaware that her staff is asleep, and while I’ve been waiting for John Cornyn to get back in touch with me for months, Congressman Burgess’ meaningful and personalized response arrived within 48 hours on Thursday:

Dear Dr. Pruitt:

Thank you for your continued correspondence regarding your concerns for privacy as it relates to health information technologies (HIT). I appreciate hearing from you on this matter.

I assure you that I understand the concerns you have that the implementation of HIT will have harmful effects on patients’ privacy, specifically as it relates to dentistry. As problems arise, I will work closely with the Department of Health and Human Service as well as organized dentistry to make sure that these problems are dealt with quickly and efficiently so that patients continue to receive the rights guaranteed to them in HIPAA.

As one of the few Members of Congress who have run a medical practice and been required to meet HIPAA, I take your concerns to heart and will be vigilant in my oversight.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the U.S. House of Representatives. Please feel free to visit my website (www.house.gov/burgess) or contact me with any future concerns.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Burgess, MD

[Member of Congress]

—————————–

So of those 8 elected officials from the Dallas /Ft. Worth area, who you think, I should trust with my patients’ interests next time I vote?  As for my state representatives whom I could run into almost anywhere in my community, they never bothered responding at all.

For months, I’ve emailed Diane Patrick more times than any other lawmaker. Long ago, I assumed that since she is married to a dentist, she might have natural interest in the welfare of dental patients. I was wrong. Even though the Fort Worth District Dental Society supports her campaigns, I have to wonder why?

Assessment 

And as for Marc Veasey, I met the man once, but I don’t think he remembers me. His campaign office is four doors down the hall from me as I type Tip O’Neal’s quote. “All politics is local.”

Conclusion

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Filed under: Health Law & Policy, Information Technology, Op-Editorials, Pruitt's Platform | Tagged: Chris Harris, D. Kellus Pruitt, Diane Patrick, EHRs, EMRs, HIPAA, HIT, HITECH, Joe Barton, John Cornyn, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Marc Veasey, Michael Burgess, Wendy Davis | 2 Comments »