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Know how HIPAA affects members of clergy

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, March 1, 2002

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Most facilities would not humor someone who asked for the name of every patient in their directory from the same community or having the same ethnic back ground. But that's very similar to what the privacy rule allows members of clergy to do.

Members of clergy often request patient information in order to provide counseling. By providing a religious affiliation, clergy can ask for a list of every patient in a hospital's directory be longing to that affiliation.

Individuals who are not members of clergy are not entitled to the same information, says Thomas E. Jeffry Jr., Esq., a partner at Davis, Wright, Tremaine, LLP, in Los Angeles, and co-chair of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange's privacy policy advisory group. "A rabbi can ask for a list of all the Jewish patients in the directory, but lay people have to ask by name."

Friends and families can call and get directory information, including names, locations, and general medical statuses, such as critical or stable, says Michael Blau, Esq., a partner at McDermott Will & Emery, in Boston. "But [facilities] can't provide further information about status, condition, treatment, diagnosis, or religious affiliation."

Go to http://www.himinfo.com/news/feature.cfm?content_id=20460 for tips on how to protect patient privacy when providing information to clergy.

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