CONSUMER AFFAIRS BULLETIN
Volume 3, No. 2 Summer 1998

Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities

This fall The President’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry formally submitted a Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities that included the following eight areas:

1. Information Disclosure: Consumers have the right to receive accurate, easily understood information and may require assistance in making informed health care decisions about their health plans, professionals, and facilities.
2. Choice of Providers and Plans: Consumers have the right to a choice of health care providers that is sufficient to ensure access to appropriate high-quality health care.
3. Access to Emergency Services: Consumers have the right to access emergency health care services when and where the need arises.
4. Participation in Treatment Decisions: Consumers have the right and responsibility to fully participate in all decisions related to their health care.
5. Respect and Nondiscrimination: Consumers have the right to considerate, respectful care from all members of the health care system at all times and under all circumstances. An environment of mutual respect is essential to maintain a quality health care system.
6. Confidentiality of Health Information: Consumers have the right to communicate with health care providers in confidence and to have the confidentiality of their individually identifiable health care information protected.
7. Complaints and Appeals: All consumers have the right to a fair and efficient process for resolving differences with their health plans, health care providers, and the institutions that serve them, including a rigorous system of internal review and an independent system of external review.
8. Consumer Responsibilities: In a health care system that protects consumers’ rights, it is reasonable to expect and encourage consumers to assume reasonable responsibilities.

SAMHSA Establishes Consumer Bill of Rights Workgroup to promote and implement the Presidential Advisory Commission’s Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities in health care, SAMHSA has established a workgroup. For more information about the workgroup, contact, Carole Schauer (301)443-2792.

To obtain a printed copy of the report, call 1 (800)732-8200 or write to Consumer Bill of Rights, Box 2429, Columbia, Md. 21045-1429.

Consumer Affairs Bulletin
Volume 3, No. 2, Summer 1998