A January 3 article in Bloomberg BNA's Health Care Daily
Report and other publications, "Rule Makes Substance
Abuse Records Easier to Disclose," discussed the new rule
released January 2 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA). Day Pitney's Eric Fader was
quoted in the article.
The new rule is intended to align privacy protections with new
healthcare delivery models. The new rule and previous changes
adopted in 2017 are the first changes to the so-called Part 2
regulations since 1987, years before the creation of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
"Industry awareness and compliance with HIPAA and the HITECH
Act, and the available regulatory guidance regarding HIPAA, were
far ahead of those for Part 2, so the new rule will certainly
improve compliance with Part 2," Eric told Bloomberg
BNA. He added that although Part 2 provides tougher
protections for substance abuse records than HIPAA, the new rule
references the more familiar HIPAA requirements, which should make
providers' lives easier.
"Just as information flow and interoperability of electronic
health records systems are critical in this era of increasing care
coordination and value-based care, the governing regulations should
also be interoperable to the extent possible so that sloppy
inconsistencies between them don't impede innovation,"
Eric concluded.
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