Acknowledgement of Receipt of HIPAA Privacy Practices
HIPAA Privacy Rules & Sharing Information Related to Mental Health: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule is a measure that provides consumers with important privacy rights with respect to their health information, including important control over how their health information is used and disclosed by health plans and health care providers. Ensuring that strong privacy protections are in place are critical to maintaining an individual’s trust in health care providers. It also increases an individual’s willingness to obtain needed health care services. These policies are especially important where very sensitive information is concerned, such as mental health information.
The Privacy Rule recognizes circumstances that arise where health information may need to be shared to ensure the patient receives the best course of treatment and for other equally important purposes including the health and safety of the patient. This rule is carefully regulated to allow uses and disclosures to mental health information for treatment and other purposes with appropriate protections. Luminess will use your protected health information to treat and diagnose, take payments, manage insurance verification and payments, and perform health care operational activities.
The type of information shared to authorized entities and persons, includes but is not limited to: name, address, phone numbers, date and place of birth, social security number, date and time of treatment, payment information, insurance payment and authorization, and the patient’s past, present, or future physical or mental health information.
In the packet, we address some of the more commonly asked questions about when it is appropriate for a provider to share any of the protected health information of a patient who is being treated for a mental health condition.
Luminess operates per the terms in the HIPAA Privacy Rules. HIPAA permits health and mental health care providers to:
Communicate with authorized patient’s family members, friends, or others who are directly involved in a patient’s care or payment of care; when a patient is incapacitated, experiencing temporary psychosis, is intoxicated and does not have the capacity to agree or object to a health care provider sharing information, when a patient with certain mental illnesses refuse to agree to disclose information, or when a provider believes that a patient may hurt themselves or someone else.
Inform a health care provider that a patient who is diagnosed with a serious mental illness has stopped taking prescribed medications.
Share patient information to a parent, guardian, or other person who is acting in loco parentis of a minor child in certain situations.
Deny the distribution of psychotherapy or medication management notes, which may contain psychotherapeutic components, regarding a patient’s mental health treatment in certain situations.
Contact a patient’s family members, law enforcement, emergency agencies, health care facilities, or other persons in certain situations.