December 21, 2000 - The Clinton administration has set the first national standards for how personal health information is used and distributed, and has established criminal and civil penalties for breaching patient privacy.

The Department of Health and Human Services began drafting the regulations when Congress failed to pass federal legislation concerning medical privacy this past year. Click here to view the regulations, which are available for public comment during the next 60 days.

Each patient will have a 'disclosure history' listing that reports the different entities that have received their personal medical information.

Here is a page from Yahoo that provides in-depth coverage on Medical Records Privacy.