Pennsylvania Health Secretary: Act 13 Won't Muzzle Doctors

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

April 19, 2012 | 10:52 AM

For a more detailed look on what the legislation actually says, click here.
The president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society has put out a statement on the new impact fee, Act 13, which contains language requiring doctors to sign nondisclosure forms, if they’re given proprietary information about chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing.
Critics have called this a gag order on doctors, though the authors of the bill say the accusation is unfounded.
The Medical Society says Governor Corbett’s Health Secretary, Eli Avila, has assured them the language will not prevent doctors from sharing information with their patients or other medical professionals. Here’s Avila’s full statement to the group:

“Inherent in [physicians’] right to receive this [proprietary] information is the ability to share the information with the patient, with other physicians, and providers including specialists assisting and involved with the care of the patient. Further, reporting and information sharing with public health and regulatory agencies such as the Department of Health is necessary and permitted. In short, the information can be utilized in whatever manner is necessary to respond to the ‘medical needs asserted’ by the health care professional.”

You can read the Medical Society’s full release after the jump:

Pennsylvania’s new law regulating unconventional wells that use hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas has understandably raised some very important questions among physicians, especially those whose medical practices are located in the heart of this burgeoning industry.
As physicians, our first priority is the health of our patients. We applaud the Corbett administration and the legislature for enacting a law that forces natural gas drillers to publicly disclose the chemicals they use as part of the hydraulic fracturing process. More importantly, language in Act 13 demonstrates their concern for public safety by empowering physicians, when they need to treat patients, with the ability to obtain from drilling companies “proprietary chemical compounds” not otherwise publicly disclosed.
We appreciate Speaker of the House Sam Smith’s recent statement that the language in Act 13 will not interfere with a physician’s ability to appropriately treat patients, and will in fact facilitate that process. While PAMED agrees that Act 13’s disclosure language is as strong as any in the nation, we also reached out to the Corbett administration to clarify physicians’ confidentiality obligations under the new law with respect to proprietary information disclosed to them for treatment purposes.
Corbett administration officials, along with the Department of Health responded quickly to our query. In a letter to PAMED President Marilyn Heine, Secretary of Health Eli Avila explained:
“Inherent in [physicians’] right to receive this [proprietary] information is the ability to share the information with the patient, with other physicians, and providers including specialists assisting and involved with the care of the patient. Further, reporting and information sharing with public health and regulatory agencies such as the Department of Health is necessary and permitted. In short, the information can be utilized in whatever manner is necessary to respond to the ‘medical needs asserted’ by the health care professional.”
We are gratified by the strong public assurances from the Department of Health, Speaker Smith and House Majority leader Mike Turzai that their intent in drafting the law was for physicians to be able to speak freely with their patients, other health care providers involved in the care of their patients, and appropriate public health officials. Those statements clearly demonstrate their commitment to the health and welfare of all Pennsylvanians.
As the unconventional gas drilling industry matures in Pennsylvania, and our understanding of this technology evolves, we’re confident that the administration and legislature will continue to be responsive to physicians’ concerns for protecting patient health and preserving the patient-physician relationship.