From: AISHealth
Reprinted from REPORT ON PATIENT PRIVACY, the industry’s #1 source of timely news and business strategies for safeguarding patient privacy and data security.
Savvy privacy and security officers at covered entities (CEs) know that, in addition to HIPAA and a bevy of state laws they have to worry about, they also must ensure that the use and disclosure of extra-sensitive information complies with additional safeguards imposed by other federal statutes (RPP 6/13, p. 3).
Now, more than 30 years after they were last updated, the regulations imposed to protect substance abuse and drug treatment information may be getting a substantial makeover.
Believed to be ripe for updating is 2 CFR Part 2, “Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records Regulations,” as the rules are said to be impeding full integration of data with care offered by integrated delivery systems.
On June 11, the HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will hold a day-long “listening session” to hear feedback on ideas it proposed in a May 12 Federal Register notice. Among the proposed changes are modifications to consent forms and expansion of data sharing when a patient is experiencing a “medical emergency” and for research purposes. Many are detailed, and have already generated a significant amount of interest — if not controversy — especially among health care privacy experts.
Leave a Reply