Philanthropic Fundraising Activities in Stimulus Bill Preserved Thanks to the Efforts of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy

Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) nonprofit hospitals and their foundations - using fundraising outreach that is tightly controlled to protect patients' privacy - are allowed to seek donations from individuals who have been patients in their hospitals. The privacy of the patients in the context of this type of fundraising found virtually no examples that the information was compromised under HIPAA, a fact acknowledged in letters to AHP in 2007 and 2008 by the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services. For reasons unknown, the Congressional stimulus package debated by Congress last week had contained language removing this practice.