OCR director clarifies HIPAA privacy rule confusion
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, June 30, 2008
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HIPAA specifically permits healthcare providers to share PHI with a patient’s spouse if the patient agrees to the disclosure, Winston Wilkinson, director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), wrote in a letter to the Erie Times-News. If the patient is incapacitated, the provider or physician may choose to disclose information if it is in the patient’s best interest.
The OCR director’s reminder came after a recent incident in which a woman alleged that a hospital wouldn’t provide information about her husband after his admission to the emergency department.
“In situations like [this] where her frightened husband clearly wanted her help, the Privacy Rule absolutely permits the hospital to explain his condition to a spouse,” Wilkinson wrote in the letter. “So, if you are told by staff that HIPAA prevents them from sharing relevant information, you may want to talk to a supervisor.”
Click here to read the letter.
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