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Proposed Changes to HIPAA Privacy Rule Would Help Families in Crisis

By: Treatment Advocacy Center News


The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed several significant changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Two of those changes, related to communicating vital information between healthcare providers and caregivers, are longstanding priorities of the Treatment Advocacy Center. 

The HIPAA Privacy Rule is a federal regulation that limits the circumstances in which a patient’s identifiable information may be shared by a healthcare provider, insurer or clearinghouse. It is often a barrier to family members trying to communicate with healthcare providers when a loved one is in psychiatric crisis. Caregivers have information that doctors and treatment facilities need to know in order to provide appropriate care but communication between the people with information and the people who need it is limited by a rule that HHS is now proposing to improve.

The current barrier created by the Privacy Rule most often arises when a family member or other caregiver, with years of experience and knowledge related to their loved one’s specific illness and treatment history, needs information from a treating physician and that physician will not disclose it. The Privacy Rule, created by HHS to prevent misuse of private information, restricts doctors from disclosing that information unless an “exercise of professional judgment” leads the provider to believe that the disclosure is in the patient’s best interest. HHS’ proposed changes would instead allow a “good faith belief” by a provider that they are acting in the patient’s best interest -- a considerably more reasonable standard that will improve family members’ ability to obtain effective treatment for someone with SMI.

Another proposed change to the Privacy Rule would allow healthcare providers to disclose information to caregivers when there is a “serious and reasonably foreseeable threat” to the health and safety of the patient or others. The current rule only allows physicians to disclose information related to a patient’s care when there is a “serious and imminent” threat of such harm. Here again, the new language would create a less restrictive standard.

The Treatment Advocacy Center has urged HHS to adopt this type of less restrictive language for many years and we are glad to see HHS proposing changes to the Privacy Rule that will help families in crisis. 

HHS will soon seek public comments on their proposed changes. The improvements on the Privacy Rule are not official and will need the continued support of grassroots advocates and advocacy organizations to become law. When the public comment period begins, we will notify our fellow advocates and encourage you to support the changes that remove barriers for family members and other caregivers. 

Michael Gray is legislative and policy counsel at the Treatment Advocacy Center.