Personal Health Information privacy?

I went to a walk-in clinic this morning to see if anything could be done for the stubborn cough I've had for 3 weeks. I slogged through the usual stack of paperwork asking me to document both past and current health information (which the doctor apparently doesn't read, since he asks the same questions. I'm not the only person here w/ a nagging cough. A lethargic 5 year old Hispanic girl w/ a fever causes some concern about H1N1 exposure. While waiting 3 hours to see the doctor, I had time to request and read the "Notice of Privacy Practices" that I was previously required to certify that I had already received, read, and understood. I found the following interesting reason (among the many listed) why the clinic is allowed or required by law to disclose personal health information (PHI) buried amid the pages of legalese intended to assure their patients that their PHI privacy is of utmost importance.

"Our practice may disclose your PHI to federal authorities for intelligence and national security activities authorized by law in order to protect the president, other officials or foreign heads of state, or to conduct investigations."

Welcome to our wonderful post 9-11 world, where the President of the United States, other world leaders, and unspecified "other officials" (the mailman?) are all potentially directly endangered by not having access to the knowledge that I had tonsillitis when I was 8 years old.

The final outcome? I forfeited half a day of work waiting for a doctor who did not wash his hands before examining patients and who wrote me a prescription for two products whose combined cost is approximately $250 and which may or may not help. :(