State attorney general opinions differ on information disclosure in emergencies
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, February 14, 2005
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
In Mississippi, Attorney General Jim Hood ruled that the health information of victims in emergencies is part of public knowledge and that it does not fall under HIPAA. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has yet to offer an opinion, stating that she will do so only after she has looked further into the issues surrounding HIPAA, reported the Northern Star Online.
Differing opinions such as these are common amongst state authorities. Ambulance providers cannot disclose PHI unless either public health or national security is at risk, according to HIPAA. But some people have expressed concern that healthcare providers use the law as an excuse not to provide information.
"None of the hospitals want to talk to us anymore," one police lieutenant told the Northern Star. "You've got some of these ambulance calls that don't even want to give out the address of where they're going."
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- CMS has reformulated payments for some bilateral procedures
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Q/A. One injection code or two?
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Hospitals are not bound by InterQual criteria for determining patient status
- ED-to-inpatient transfers are flawed with safety gaps
- Searched