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The American Health Information Management Association has unveiled a Health Information Bill of Rights, a set of seven principles for protecting health care consumers.

The Chicago-based association introduced the document during its annual convention, being held Oct. 3-8 in Grapevine, Texas. The association in November will make available for downloading via its Web site a wall poster of the rights for display in waiting areas, and a certification that an organization pledges to upload the seven principles. The principles are:

* the right to access your health information free of charge;
* the right to access your health information during the course of treatment;
* the right to expect that your health information is accurate and as complete as possible;
* the right for you or your personal representative(s) to know who provides, accesses and updates your health information, except as precluded by law or regulation;
* the right to expect healthcare professionals and others with lawful access to your health information to be held accountable for violations of all privacy and security laws, policies and procedures, including the sharing of user IDs and passwords;
* the right to expect equivalent health information privacy and security protections to be available to all healthcare consumers regardless of state or geographic boundaries, or the location (jurisdiction) of where the treatment occurs; and
* the right to the opportunity for private legal recourse in the event of a breach of one's health information that causes harm.

More information is available at ahima.org.

--Joseph Goedert