Federal and state regulations in the last few years have emphasized the issue of patients’ rights, including privacy and access to physicians of choice and adequate care.

In Washington State, 59 percent of the population has employer-sponsored health insurance, and another six percent have individual plans, according to the Keiser Family Foundation 2001-2002 statistics. All these consumers have special protections under the state’s Patients Bill of Rights, which not only allows for choices of physicians but also for third-party reviews and even claims against insurers when needed coverage is denied.

“All patients have the right to select their own physician, that’s the reason we try to contract with many insurance companies, so a patient doesn’t have to change a provider when changing insurance companies,” said The Doctors Clinic CEO Linda Brown.

“The choice has been available but some patients may not be aware of their options,” John Carlson, of Kitsap Physical Therapy, said. That includes the option to have complete information about an insurance plan and a fast referral if specialized care is needed.

What the bill has done since being implemented in 2001 was make insurance companies less invincible. Where they could previously deny coverage without repercussion, third-party reviews of denials are now available, and insurance companies could be held liable for denying care if a patient is harmed.

What this also means for the patient, is that they have a choice of where to have services, like radiology, physical therapy, hemotology and others performed.

“The doctors’ role was being undermined. We wanted to make sure that if a doctor said treatment was required, then it should be offered and should not be up to insurance companies to decide,” said Tom Vasquez, a community organizer with the Washington Citizen Action, a grass-roots organization that has led a coalition of parties in 2000 to lobby for the Bill of Patients Rights. The changes, he says, have helped save lives.

Patient privacy is another issue, which has gotten a boost recently with the introduction of HIPAA — Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. With providers using the Internet and electronic file transmission more, patient data can become especially vulnerable — so the physicians are required to take measures to prevent that, for example by making sure the transmission is secure.

“Physicians have always been careful with patient information but the federal government has introduced more stringent regulations,” Brown said. Some of the privacy stipulations are completely in the patients’ hands. People admitted to the hospital, for example, could choose whether they want any information released to non-immediate family members and friends. They also can request access to their own files.

Brown mentions one more important right that patients themselves may sometimes forget: “They have the right to be treated with respect.” Although some people who buy health insurance prefer to never use it and look at medical visits as a last-resort, unpleasant procedure, chances are their care now will be much better than a few years ago because of those rights protected by law.