Rule Would Ease Consent Requirements for Releasing Patients’ Substance Abuse Records

New rules proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would ease consent requirements for providers releasing patients’ substance abuse diagnosis and treatment records, according to MedPage Today.

The rules would facilitate the electronic exchange of substance use disorder information for treatment. It would ensure appropriate confidentiality protections for records that might identify an individual, directly or indirectly, as having or having had a substance use disorder, the regulation notes.

HHS said the original confidentiality law was written “out of great concern about the potential use of substance abuse information against individuals, causing individuals with substance use disorders to not seek needed treatment. The disclosure of records of individuals with substance use disorders has the potential to lead to a host of negative consequences including: loss of employment, loss of housing, loss of child custody, discrimination by medical professionals and insurers, arrest, prosecution, and incarceration.”

Under the current law, a substance use disorder program that receives federal funds can only release identifiable information related to substance use disorder diagnosis, treatment or referral for treatment with a person’s express consent. The new rule would better align regulations with advances in the U.S. health care delivery system, while retaining important privacy protections, HHS stated.

“This proposal will help patients with substance use disorders fully participate and benefit from a health care delivery system that’s better, smarter and healthier, while protecting their privacy,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a news release. “We are moving Medicare, and the health care system as a whole, toward new integrated care models that incentivize providers to coordinate and put the patient at the center of their care, and we are modernizing our rules to protect patients.”