Do you have to track disclosures which do not require authorizations?
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, June 28, 2003
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Q: Do you have to track (for an accounting) disclosures made under 164.512 of the privacy rule, which do not require an authorization or opportunity to agree or object?
A: Yes. These are typically the disclosures that need to be tracked. This is somewhat oversimplified, but think of all PHI disclosures as falling into one of the following three broad categories:
- Those made for treatment, payment, and health care operations
- Those made for public health, national priorities, and similar reasons
- Those made with the patient's explicit authorization
The privacy rule suggests that disclosures in the first category are appropriate by definition. And disclosures in the third category should not be a surprise to the patient, since an authorization was obtained. That leaves the second category of disclosures as the ones needing to be tracked. They may be disclosures that patients are less aware of occurring in our health care system today.
Editor's note: Answered by Kate Borten, CISSP, president of The Marblehead Group, in Marblehead, MA, and excerpted from the upcoming June 2003 issue of Briefings on HIPAA. This is not legal advice. Be sure to consult with your facility's legal counsel for legal matters.
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