Mental Health Center Provides Access and Revises Policies and Procedures
Mental Health Center Provides Access and Revises Policies and Procedures
Covered Entity: Mental Health Center
Issue: Access, Restrictions
The complainant alleged that a mental health center (the "Center")
refused to provide her with a copy of her medical record, including
psychotherapy notes. OCR’s investigation revealed that the Center
provided the complainant with an opportunity to review her medical
record, including the psychotherapy notes, with her therapist, but the
Center did not provide her with a copy of her records. The Privacy Rule
requires covered entities to provide individuals with access to their
medical records; however, the Privacy Rule exempts psychotherapy notes
from this requirement. Although the Center gave the complainant the
opportunity to review her medical record, this did not negate the
Center’s obligation to provide the complainant with a copy of her
records. Among other corrective action taken, the Center provided the
complainant with a copy of her medical record and revised its policies
and procedures to ensure that it provides timely access to all
individuals.
Can a covered entity use existing aspects of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to give individuals the right to decide whether sensitive information about them may be disclosed to or through a health information organization (HIO)? Yes. To the extent a covered entity is using a process either to obtain consent or act on an individual’s right to request restrictions under the Privacy Rule as a method for effectuating individual choice, policies can be developed for obtaining consent or honoring restrictions on a granular level, based on the type of information involved. For example, specific consent and restriction policies could ...read more |
Public Hospital Corrects Impermissible Disclosure of PHI in Response to a Subpoena Covered Entity: General Hospital Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures A public hospital, in response to a subpoena (not accompanied by a court order), impermissibly disclosed the protected health information (PHI) of one of its patients. Contrary to the Privacy Rule protections for information sought for administrative or judicial proceedings, the hospital failed to determine that reasonable efforts had been made to insure that the individual whose PHI was being sought received notice of the request and/or failed to receive satisfactory assurance that the party seeking the information ...read more |
A Covered Entity is: A health plan. An individual or group plan that provides, or pays the cost of, medical care. Health plans include private entities (e.g., health insurers and managed care organizations) and government organizations (e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, and the Veterans Health Administration) A health care provider. A provider of health care services and any other person or organization that furnishes, bills, or is paid for health care in the normal course of business. Health care providers (e.g., physicians, hospitals, and clinics) are covered entities if they transmit health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction ...read more |
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 A federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, returned an indictment today charging an Indian national for fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. According to court documents, Abhishek Krishnan, 40, previously resided in Wake County, North Carolina, before returning to his home country of India. After returning to India, Krishnan allegedly submitted numerous fraudulent PPP loan applications to federally insured banks, including on behalf of purported companies that were not registered business entities. ...read more |
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