Judge Lifts Ban on Public Access to Medicare Pay Data

On Friday, a federal judge lifted a 33-year-old injunction that barred the government from giving the public access to a confidential database of Medicare reimbursements. The injunction stems from a lawsuit filed by the American Medical Association and the Florida Medical Association, which argued that disclosure of such information would violate the 1974 Privacy Act. U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard said in her decision that judicial rulings since the injunction was put in place have restricted the Privacy Act's reach, meaning that the ban was now based "upon a legal principle that can no longer be sustained."

• "Federal Judge Lifts Ban on Public Access to Medicare Data" (Tamman, Reuters, 5/31).
• "Judge Ends 33-Year Injunction That Shielded Medicare Data on Doctors" (Carreyrou, Wall Street Journal, 5/31).