Hello John,
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to change the HIPAA Privacy Rule and is asking for public comments. This is an important opportunity to let HHS know how the Privacy Rule acts as a barrier to treatment of severe mental illness.
HHS's proposal would improve access to care by allowing clinicians to disclose information about a patient’s condition and treatment if they have a “good faith belief” that it is in the patient’s best interest, as opposed to the vaguely worded “exercise of professional judgment” standard that prevents families from exchanging information with clinicians. The new language would also allow clinicians to disclose information to prevent a “serious and reasonably foreseeable threat,” as opposed to the current language, which requires a “serious and imminent” threat.
Comments to HHS are due by May 6. Feel free to use our comments as a guide, but we encourage you also to share your story of how HIPAA has affected you and your loved ones and that you support the changes. Submit your own comments, here.
Watch Legislative and Policy Counsel Michael Gray's webinar to learn more about what the changes mean for your family and how to submit your comments.
It is vital that all of us who care about access to treatment for people with severe mental illness submit comments to HHS supporting these changes, but also suggest stronger language and more thorough changes to the Privacy Rule.
