Deborah C. Peel

Dr. Deborah C. Peel is an American physician and national speaker on health privacy. She became active in privacy rights at the federal level in 1993 when she interpreted the Clinton Healthcare Initiative as requiring every doctor-patient encounter to be entered in a federal health database. She advocated first as an individual and later on behalf of state and national medical specialty organizations for patient control of access to medical records. She presents at national panels and Congressional briefings, has provided state and federal testimony, and is widely quoted in trade journals and the national press.
Citizens for Health vs. Leavitt
In 2002, she was a plaintiff in Citizens for Health v. Leavitt. Plaintiffs sought to restore what they perceived to be the "right of consent" which they contended was eliminated by the amendments to the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Ultimately the case lost at the appellate level and was not accepted by the Supreme Court in 2006. The case tried to show a need for a national consumer organization dedicated to restoring patient privacy.
Patient Privacy Rights
In 2004, Dr. Peel founded Patient Privacy Rights(PPR). Its goal: to ensure that Americans control all access to their health records. PPR educates the public, healthcare and IT industries, the media, and Congress about the threats technology poses to Americans’ privacy rights.
Coalition for Patient Privacy
In 2006, Dr. Peel formed the Coalition for Patient Privacy. The bipartisan coalition of 50+ organizations urged Congress to add privacy protections to health IT legislation. The Coalition for Patient Privacy develops and garnered bipartisan support from a diverse group of consumer advocacy organization and a few individual signatories.
Awards and honors
In August, 2007, Dr. Peel debuted at #4 of the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.” Readers of the health care trade journal Modern Healthcare Magazine nominate and vote on the list every year. She was also elected one of the "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare" in 2008 and 2009.

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