Powerful lawmaker and House Majority Leader Dick Armey recently sent a shot across the bow on pending medical records privacy regulations, warning the Bush administration that it may well be "prudent to look before we leap."

Armey pointed out that health care providers would have to submit personal patient data to the federal government under proposed rules crafted around the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

"A 'Trust me, I'm from the government' approach won't wash," wrote Armey in a March letter.

Raising the specter of government access to private health care data adds another worrisome layer to the complicated and heated issue of mandated guidelines for protecting medical records.

Armey's missive arrives just as Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson is sorting through HIPAA backlash from health care providers.

"There is already a delay on the rules, and Armey may be looking for further delay in implementation," says Mark Uncapher, a lawyer with Arlington, Va.-based Information Technology Association of America (ITAA).

Under former President Clinton's HIPAA rules, health care providers would be required to operate under principles for minimal disclosure of personal data. Among other requirements, providers would have to issue notices of privacy practices and offer patients the chance to review and amend their own data. The requirements would also touch third parties such as health care consulting firms, which would not be allowed to do business with health care providers that are not in compliance with the rules.

Outcry to HIPAA in the medical community sometimes borders on the extreme, sources say.

"I think they are just running scared," says Tim Klein, an analyst at Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner. "Many health care providers are now running so close to the edge financially that any kind of expenditure is a