Contact Us
Categories
- Medical Spas
- medical billing
- No Surprises Act
- Mandatory vaccination policies
- Workplace health
- Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
- Code Enforcement
- Department of Labor ("DOL")
- Employment Law
- FFCRA
- CARES Act
- Nursing Home Reform Act
- COVID-19
- SB 150
- Acute Care Beds
- Clinical Support
- Coronavirus
- Emergency Medical Services
- Emergency Preparedness
- Families First Coronavirus Response Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”)
- KBML
- medication assisted therapy
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Legislative Developments
- Corporate
- United States Department of Justice ("DOJ")
- Employee Contracts
- Non-Compete Agreement
- Opioid Epidemic
- Sexual Harassment
- Health Resource and Services Administration
- Litigation
- Medical Malpractice
- House Bill 333
- Senate Bill 79
- locum tenens
- Senate Bill 4
- Physician Prescribing Authority
- Chronic Pain Management
- HIPAA
- Prescription Drugs
- "Two Midnights Rule"
- 340B Program
- EHR Systems
- Hospice
- ICD-10
- Kentucky minimum wage
- Minimum wage
- Primary Care Physicians ("PCPs")
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”)
- Uncategorized
- Drug Screening
- Electronic Health Records (“EHR")
- KASPER
- Mental Health Care
- Urinalysis
- Affordable Insurance Exchanges
- Certificate of Need ("CON")
- Compliance
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (“FQHCs”)
- Fraud
- Health Care Fraud
- HIPAA Risk Assessment
- HPSA
- Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
- Kentucky’s Department for Medicaid Services
- Office for Civil Rights ("OCR")
- Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG)
- Pharmacists
- Physician Assistants
- Qui Tam
- Rural Health Centers (“RHCs”)
- Stark Laws
- Telehealth
- Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”)
- Affordable Care Act
- Alternative Payment Models
- Anti-Kickback Statute
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”)
- Charitable Hospitals
- Data Breach
- Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI)
- False Claims Act
- Fee for Service
- Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
- Health Professional Shortage Area ("HPSA")
- Hospitals
- HRSA
- Limited Services Clinics
- Medicaid
- Medical Staff By-Laws
- Medically Underserved Area ("MUA")
- Medicare
- Mid-Level Practitioners
- Part D
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”)
- Rural Health Clinic
- American Telemedicine Association (“ATA”)
- Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
- Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (“HEAT”)
- Hydrocodone
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- Kentucky Pharmacists Association
- Qualified Health Care Centers (“FQHC”)
- Telemedicine
- APRNs
- United States ex. Rel. Kane v. Continuum Health Partners
- Webinar
- Agreed Order
- Chain and Organization System (“PECOS”)
- Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California
- Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA")
- Emergency Rooms
- Enrollment
- Hinchy v. Walgreen Co.
- Jimmo v. Sebelius
- Kentucky Senate Bill 7
- Maintenance Standard
- Medicare Part D
- Minors
- Overpayments
- Re-validation
- Texting
- Vitas Innovative Hospice Care
- 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”)
- 501(c)(3)
- All-Payer Claims Database ("APCD")
- Appeal
- Chiropractic services
- Chronic Care Management
- Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”)
- Compliance Officer
- Compounding
- CPR
- Dispenser
- Drug Quality and Security Act (“DQSA”)
- Essential Health Benefits
- HealthCare.gov
- House Bill 3204
- ICD-9
- Kindred v. Cherolis
- Long-term care communities
- National Drug Code ("NDC")
- New England Compounding Center ("NECC")
- Ophthalmological services
- Outsourcing facility
- Physician Compare website
- Ping v. Beverly Enterprises
- Power of Attorney ("POA")
- Prescriber
- Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”)
- "Plan of Correction"
- Affinity Health Plan
- Arbitration
- Cadillac tax
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Community health needs assessment (“CHNA”)
- Condition of Participation ("CoP")
- Daycare centers
- Denied Claims
- Department of Medicaid Services’ (“DMS”)
- Division of Regulated Child Care
- Employer Mandate
- Federation of State Medical Boards (“FSMB”)
- Food and Drug Administratio
- Form 4720
- Grace Period
- Health Professional Shortage Areas (“HPSA”)
- Home Health Prospective Payment System
- Home Medical Equipment Providers
- Hospitalists
- Individual mandate
- Inpatient Care
- Intermediate Sanctions Agreement
- Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange
- Kentucky Medical Practice Act
- Kynect
- Licensure Requirements
- LLC v. Sutter
- Long-Term Care Providers ("LTC")
- Low-utilization payment adjustment ("LUPA")
- Medicare Shared Saving Program (MSSP)
- Mobile medical applications ("apps")
- Model Policy for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice (“Model Policy”)
- National Institutes of Health
- Network provider agreement
- Nonprofit hospitals
- Nonroutine medical supplies conversion factor (“NRS”)
- Payors
- Personal Service Entities
- Physician Payments
- Physician Recruitment
- Physician shortages
- Qualified Health Plan ("QHP")
- Quality reporting
- Residency Programs
- Social Media
- Spousal coverage
- State Health Plan
- Statement of Deficiency ("SOD")
- Upcoding
- UPS
- “Superuser”
- Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
- Audit
- Autism/ASD
- Business Associate Agreements
- Business Associates
- Call Coverage
- Decertification
- Doe v. Guthrie Clinic
- EHR vendor
- Employer Group Health Plans
- ERISA
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- False Billings
- Group Purchasing Organizations ("GPO")
- Health Reform
- House Bill 104
- Kentucky House Bill 159
- Kentucky House Bill 217
- Licensed practical nurses (LPN)
- List of Excluded Individuals and Entities
- Meaningful use incentives
- Medicare Administrative Coordinators
- Medicare Benefit Policy Manual
- Nurse practitioners (NP)
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”)
- Part A
- Part B
- Patient Autonomy
- Patient Privacy
- Personal Health Information
- Provider Self Disclosure Protocol
- Registered nurses (RN)
- Self-Disclosure Protocol
- Senate Bill 39
- Senate Finance Committee Report
- State Medicaid Expansion
- Trade Association Group Coverage
- Center for Disease Control
- Compliance Programs
- Critical Access Hospitals (“CAHs”)
- Essential Health Benefits (“EHBs”)
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA")
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
- Kentucky Primary Care Centers (“PCCs”)
- Managed Care Organizations (“MCOs”)
- Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2012
- Recovery Audit Contractors (“RAC”)
- Small Business Health Options Program (“SHOP”)
- Sunshine Act
- Abuse and Waste
- Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan programs (“CO-OPS”)
- Free Conference Committee Report
- House Bill 1
- House Bill 4
- Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
- Kentucky Health Care Co-Op
- Kentucky Health Cooperative (“KYHC”)
- Kentucky “Pill Mill Bill”
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”)
- Pain Management Facilities
- Employee Agreement
- Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare Regulation
- Health Care Law
McBrayer Blogs
Guidance on Mental Health & the HIPAA Privacy Rule
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently issued guidance entitled, “HIPAA Privacy Rule and Sharing Information Related to Mental Health.” As the title implies, it offers information as to when it may be permissible under HIPAA for health care providers to share information related to a patient’s mental health, including instances when the patient may be a minor. The direction, issued in the form of Q&As, comes as HHS seeks to strike a balance between a patient’s privacy rights in mental health records and public safety concerns. The clarifications could not come at a better time, as the health care industry prepares for an influx of patients who now have insurance that includes mental health coverage. Below are some of the highlights from the guidance:
Family & Friends
A mental health provider may communicate with, and disclose a patient’s PHI (including mental health information) to family and friends (or others involved with the health care or payment for services) when the patient is present and has the capacity to make health care decisions, so long as the patient does not object.
When the patient is not present or is incapacitated, the mental health provider may disclose relevant information so long as the provider determines, based on his or her professional judgment, that doing so is in the best interests of the patient. Lack of consciousness is the most common form of incapacity, but it can take other forms. For instance, when a health care provider knows that a patient with a serious mental illness has stopped taking a prescribed medication, the provider can share that information with a family member, if doing so would be in the patient’s best interest. Providers should take into account any prior expressed preferences of the patient regarding the disclosure of his or her information.
In instances when the patient has capacity and objects to the sharing of information, the provider may share the information only if doing so is consistent with applicable law and standards of ethical conduct, and the provider has a good faith belief that the patient poses a threat to the health or safety of others, and the person to whom the information is disclosed is reasonably able to prevent or lessen the threat.
The Privacy Rule does not prevent providers from listening to concerns raised by family or friends about the health of the patient. These concerns can be withheld from the patient if the disclosure of such information would be reasonably likely to reveal the identity of the concerned individual.
Psychotherapy Notes
These notes, defined as notes kept separate from the rest of the patient’s medical record that document or analyze conversations held during certain types of counseling sessions, are afforded extra protection under the Privacy Rule. With a few limited exceptions, a specific, separate authorization is required before a mental health provider may use or disclose them, and a mental health provider is not required to disclose such notes to the patient under the individual’s Privacy Rule right of access. Two notable exceptions exist for the disclosure of these records: mandatory “duty to warn” situations or when a threat of serious and imminent harm to the health or safety of the patient or others is present.
Law Enforcement
Certain PHI, including date and time of admission and discharge, may be disclosed in response to a law enforcement official’s request, for the purpose of location or identifying a suspect, fugitive, missing person or material witness. Information such as name and address and distinguishing physical characteristics (among other things) may be released, but some information (such as dental records or samples of bodily fluids) cannot be released.
For guidance relating particularly to minors and mental health treatment, check back on Thursday.
Christopher J. Shaughnessy is a member at McBrayer law. Mr. Shaughnessy concentrates his practice area in healthcare law and is located in the firm’s Lexington office. He can be reached at cshaughnessy@mcbrayerfirm.com or at (859) 231-8780, ext. 1251.
Services may be performed by others.
This article does not constitute legal advice.