Navigating Changing Privacy Regulations for Medical Records

This is an insightful piece by Bart Howe published for the Journal of AHIMA. The article highlights important proposed updates to privacy rules for medical records containing sensitive substance abuse and reproductive health information. I agree that these changes are necessary to enhance confidentiality protections for patients in our evolving healthcare system. 

The advice around proactively planning compliance strategies is wise. It would be prudent for organizations to engage experts now to map out responses if the regulations are finalized. Kudos to the author for raising awareness and providing actionable guidance to healthcare entities on these pending policy changes. 

Here are the key points from the article about pending regulations that could change how medical records are released: 

• Two new proposed rules from HHS aim to increase privacy protections for substance abuse records and reproductive healthcare records. 

• The substance abuse rule would align some Part 2 regulations with HIPAA to make compliance easier, add new government agency disclosure requirements, apply HIPAA penalties to Part 2, and modify breach notice requirements. 

• The reproductive healthcare rule proposes new restrictions on releasing records related to lawful reproductive care and requires attestations that the purpose is not prohibited. 

• If finalized, these rules would require adjustments to workflows to parse records for substance abuse or reproductive care information and determine when disclosure restrictions or attestations apply. 

• Organizations should start planning now on how they would operationalize these changes if finalized, even though there may be a buffer between finalization and enforcement. Engaging compliance experts can help outline plans to remain compliant as regulations evolve. 

The proposed regulations would require more considerations around releasing certain types of sensitive health information, which could add complexity to medical records release workflows. Planning is key even though the rules are not yet finalized. 

Reference:

1. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/04/12/hhs-proposes-measures-bolster-patient-provider-confidentiality-around-reproductive-health-care.html 

2. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/11/28/hhs-proposes-new-protections-increase-care-coordination-confidentiality-patients-substance-use-challenges.html