The proposed changes to the final privacy rule suggest a disturbing reduction in an individual's ability to exercise a right to healthcare privacy.

The author contends that, in eliminating HIPAA's mandatory consent requirement, which is the initial step in the patient's Patient Consent exercise of the right to health information privacy, DHHS has turned its back on privacy protection. She posits that the proposed change is the result of a disturbing focus on an elimination of the industry's administrative burdens, rather than on the protection of patient healthcare information. The article concludes that elimination of the consent requirement is a step backwards in the arena of personal privacy.