HIPAA

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on April 2 that it will not impose penalties for violations of certain provisions of the HIPAA Privacy Rule related to novel coronavirus (COVID-19) information sharing.

Healthcare facilities across the world are faced with myriad challenges as they aim to diagnose and treat cases of COVID-19. HHS and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) have instituted several changes during the nationwide public health emergency, some of which modify HIPAA laws and directly impact healthcare organizations around the country.

Q: Are there certain rules in place for the disclosure of psychiatric health information, as opposed to medical information that is considered PHI?

Q: HHS recently issued a notice that fee limitations will apply only to an individual’s request for access to their own records and not to an individual’s request to transmit records to a third party. Will limitations imposed by state law now apply?

Q: Does HIPAA place special restrictions on disclosures of PHI involving victims of domestic abuse?

As social distancing efforts ramp up to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), healthcare providers are turning to telehealth as a viable mode of communication with patients, who are being discouraged from making in-person visits to healthcare facilities when possible.

The healthcare industry in the United States has experienced a significant increase in ransomware attacks, and the trend is likely to continue. It’s easy money for the hackers.

Q: An employee in a psychiatric hospital’s billing department sees a fellow parishioner’s name. He calls other parishioners to tell them that this individual is a patient at the hospital, and they share this information on a prayer chain. Suddenly, several hundred people know that this parishioner is a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Is this an acceptable disclosure?

As the novel coronavirus remains a threat across the globe, healthcare organizations should brush up on procedures for handling and sharing protected health information (PHI) during the outbreak of an infectious disease.

Q: What are the HIPAA rules regarding disclosures of health information to a patient’s same-sex partner when the couple is not married or the partner is not considered a relative under the law?