The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which became effective on April 14, 2003, was intended to help ensure patient privacy and to increase patients' control of their personal health information. However, implementation has created numerous practical problems. Many of these drawbacks are familiar to clinicians who have had to deal with increased costs and decreased efficiency of patient care, without obvious benefit to patient safety or privacy. Economic consequences of HIPAA were recognized promptly after it was implemented. (1) However, in addition to clinical and economic consequences, the adverse effects of HIPAA upon research should not be ...