August 10, 2002

Bush Adopts New Rules For Medical Data Privacy The Bush administration formally rolled back some major protections for the privacy of medical records adopted by President Bill Clinton. But at the same time, it also set new standards for the use of personal data to market prescription drugs and other health care products. The rules, the first comprehensive federal standards for medical privacy, will affect virtually every doctor, patient, hospital, drugstore, health insurance company and medical researcher in the United States. The rules embody more than five years of work and have the force of law. [Page A1.]

Dow Jones industrial average gains 33.43 points, closing at 8,745.45; 3.18-point rise leaves Standard & Poor's 500-stock index at 908.64; Nasdaq composite index drops 10.40 points, settling at 1,306.12; yield on 10-year Treasury note drops to 4.26 percent, as its price rises 1 2/32, to 100 28/32; 30-year Treasury bond yield falls to 5.11 percent; its price gains 1 22/32, to 103 28/32; list of volatile stocks; graph of DJIA; table of key rates (M)

Bureau of Labor Statistics reports annual growth rate of productivity rose 1.1 percent in second-quarter; graph (M)

Bridgestone Corp, major Japanese tire maker, reports strong first-half profits of $203 million despite small net loss from sales in United States; expects US operations to post full-year profit; company reports on second anniversary of recall of 6.5 million Firestone tires made by Bridgestone and linked to fatal accidents, most on Ford Explorer and other sport-utility vehicles; photos; graph of company's stock price (M)

Bush administration, making use of provision of new antiterrorism law, warns foreign diplomats that their nations could lose all American military aid if they join International Criminal Court without pledging to protect Americans serving in their nations from its reach; law authorizes president to waive provision when it is in national interest; exempts NATO members and other major allies; is intended to force many nations to sign bilateral accords not to extradite Americans to new court; Romania and Israel have signed such accord (M)

British Airways has radically simplified its fare structure on European routes to keep business travelers from defecting to low-cost competitors; other big European airlines are doing same; United States airlines, while tinkering with prices and minimum-stay rules on few competitive routes, are generally reluctant to make it easy for business people to get cheap fares; may be forced to act if British Air extends simplified fares to trans-Atlantic routes; photo (M)

Oakland Athletics defeat New York Yankees, 3-2, in extra innings; photo (M)

Mike Lennon, retired New York City firefighter, is trying to complete work on his film about firefighters who answered Sept 11 alarms by anniversary of attack even though he has not yet found broadcast or cable television network willing to show film, whose title is Brothers...On Holy Ground; story of how he came to make film is one of persistence and persuasion; Steven Rosenbaum, who has made film about response of New Yorkers to attacks, estimates that independent filmmakers have a dozen long documentaries and 50 short ones in production about attacks; withdrew his film, Seven Days in September, from Sept 11 broadcast because he felt it would get lost in blur of anniversary coverage (M)

Bush administration, adopting first comprehensive federal standards for medical record privacy, drops some major protections adopted by Pres Bill Clinton; sets new standards for use of personal data to market prescription drugs and other health care products; provisions dropped required health care providers to get written consent from patients before using or disclosing personal medical data for treatment or paying claims; providers will instead have to notify patients of their remaining rights and seek written acknowledgment that notice was received; Health Sec Tommy G Thompson defends change, opposed by consumer advocates, patients' rights groups and others; Sen Edward M Kennedy scores it; new rules also guarantee patients access to their medical records (M)

Tom Golisano spends $12 million in last four weeks of his campaign for Independence Party nomination for governor of New York; Gov George E Pataki, who does not face Republican primary, spends more than $567,000 on Independence Party primary; Comptroller H Carl McCall and Andrew M Cuomo both spend three times more money than they took in during four-week period, a pace that deepens Democrats' fears that whoever wins primary will have so depleted his campaign treasury that he will be unable to sustain campaign against Pataki (M)

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses strategy of Rutgers University football coach Greg Schiano to recruit in Florida instead of New Jersey, where Rutgers has historically lost talent to football powerhouses; photo (M)

Skills Mayor Michael R Bloomberg developed in business world help him accomplish great changes in governance of New York City's school system, but those skill fail to do the trick on other problems, from diplomatic parking and the homeless to trash disposal; Bloomberg has been surprised by tenacity of advocacy groups, which often hold out for every last demand rather than settle disputes as one would business people might do (M)