HIPAA Blog

[ Sunday, July 19, 2020 ]

 

Part 2 News: In addition to HIPAA (45 CFR parts 160 and 164), federally supported substance abuse treatment centers must also comply with 42 CFR part 2.  The original purpose of the rule is to prevent substance abusers from refusing treatment out of fear that their treatment records could be used to prosecute them for drug crimes.

Basically, Part 2 is a super-strict PHI non-disclosure rule: with very limited exceptions ("break-the-glass" emergencies, some research, and program audits, basically), entities covered by Part 2 can't release patient records except with patient consent, even if the release is for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations.  Additionally, the rules on the required form of patient authorization are strict.  One particular aspect is that the authorization must indicate with specificity who the recipient is to be; it can't be a blanket release ("to any of my providers"), but must be specific ("to Dr. Smith").

HHS has been discussing whether to change the rule somewhat, to address new coordinated care requirements.  With the advent of medical homes, ACOs, and other patient-centered healthcare delivery structures, specifically identifying the recipient of the records is hard.  HHS has decided to relax that part of the Part 2 rule, to allow for a type of recipient, rather than the specific recipient, to be named in the authorization. 

The final HHS rule on the change was released last week.  

Jeff [10:08 AM]

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