Mental Health Center Corrects Process for Providing Notice of Privacy Practices

Mental Health Center Corrects Process for Providing Notice of Privacy Practices
Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility
Issue: Notice

A mental health center did not provide a notice of privacy practices (notice) to a father or his minor daughter, a patient at the center.  In response to OCR’s investigation, the mental health center acknowledged that it had not provided the complainant and his daughter with a notice prior to her mental health evaluation.  To resolve this matter, the mental health center revised its intake assessment policy and procedures to specify that the notice will be provided and the clinician will attempt to obtain a signed acknowledgement of receipt of the notice prior to the intake assessment.  The acknowledgement form is now included in the intake package of forms.  The center also provided OCR with written assurance that all policy changes were brought to the attention of the staff involved in the daughter’s care and then disseminated to all staff affected by the policy change.



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



Issued by: Office for Civil Rights (OCR) What if a HIPAA covered entity (or business associate) uses a CSP to maintain ePHI without first executing a business associate agreement with that CSP? Answer: If a covered entity (or business associate) uses a CSP to maintain (e.g., to process or store) electronic protected health information (ePHI) without entering into a BAA with the CSP, the covered entity (or business associate) is in violation of the HIPAA Rules.  45 C.F.R §§164.308(b)(1) and §164.502(e).  OCR has entered into a resolution agreement and corrective action plan with a covered entity that OCR determined ...read more



Private Practice Implements Safeguards for Waiting Rooms Covered Entity: Private Practice Issue: Safeguards; Impermissible Uses and Disclosures A staff member of a medical practice discussed HIV testing procedures with a patient in the waiting room, thereby disclosing PHI to several other individuals.  Also, computer screens displaying patient information were easily visible to patients. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the provider to develop and implement policies and procedures regarding appropriate administrative and physical safeguards related to the communication of PHI.  The practice trained all staff on the newly developed policies and ...read more



Private Practice Revises Process to Provide Access to Records Regardless of Payment Source Covered Entity: Private Practices Issue: Access At the direction of an insurance company that had requested an independent medical exam of an individual, a private medical practice denied the individual a copy of the medical records. OCR determined that the private practice denied the individual access to records to which she was entitled by the Privacy Rule. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required that the private practice revise its policies and procedures regarding access requests to reflect the ...read more

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