During the negotiations of the conference committee, AAP will be working to support those legislators that are sympathetic to the legal accountability issue and the other key issues mentioned above. Additionally, we will be working to cultivate relationships with those members who may be ambivalent about their positions on these matters currently. Patient Confidentiality Federal legislators missed the August 1999 deadline to enact standards for patient records confidentiality as imposed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The draft regulations contain some favorable provisions. Importantly, the proposed regulations specify that psychotherapy notes may not be shared without patient consent.
Problems do, however, remain in the draft.
The provision that permits disclosure of patients health records without authorization for emergency circumstances is too broad as applied to mental health and should be tailored to make certain that only the individual s treating health care professional could make such disclosures. The rule does not recognize that patients can sometimes be psychologically harmed if they are permitted to see sensitive information in their mental health records. Inspection provisions should be amended to permit treating health care professionals to prevent such disclosure upon a determination that it could cause substantial harm to the patient. With regard to law enforcement access to patient records, the proposed rule does not provide for limitations for further use and re-disclosure of the records. Obviously, close monitoring of the proposed and final regulations released by HHS will be necessary.