On January 17, Doctors for America and the cities of Columbus, Ohio, and Madison, Wisconsin formally sought to intervene in two cases, Texas v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al. and Purl, M.D. et al. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al. 

The cases concern longstanding federal protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), which Congress enacted nearly three decades ago. 

In the Texas matter, Attorney General Paxton challenges a 24-year-old regulation that serves as the foundation for medical privacy under HIPAA nationwide and a more recent regulation the Biden-Harris Administration implemented to support reproductive health care privacy in 2024. Similarly, in a separate case brought by ADF before Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, ADF has challenged the 2024 reproductive health rule, but Judge Kacsmaryk, on his own, has ordered the parties to provide a briefing on the constitutionality of the HIPAA statute itself. 

The cities and doctors argue in their filings that removing the protections for patients would open the door to government investigations of private health information and threaten the well-being of people nationwide.

In addition to legal filings formally seeking to intervene in the pair of cases, the coalition of intervening parties moved to dismiss the cases or for summary judgment, asking the court to uphold the HIPAA rules.