I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2690 
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate regula-
tions clarifying the circumstances under which, consistent with the stand-
ards governing the privacy and security of individually identifiable health 
information promulgated by the Secretary under sections 262(a) and 
264 of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, 
health care providers and covered entities may disclose the protected 
health information of patients with a mental illness, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 9, 2015 
Ms. MATSUI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
promulgate regulations clarifying the circumstances 
under which, consistent with the standards governing 
the privacy and security of individually identifiable health 
information promulgated by the Secretary under sections 
262(a) and 264 of the Health Insurance Portability and 
Accountability Act of 1996, health care providers and 
covered entities may disclose the protected health infor-
mation of patients with a mental illness, and for other 
purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Including Families in 
Mental Health Recovery Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 
2. 
CLARIFICATION 
OF 
CIRCUMSTANCES 
UNDER 
WHICH DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED HEALTH 
INFORMATION 
OF 
MENTAL 
ILLNESS 
PA-
TIENTS IS PERMITTED. 
The HITECH Act (title XIII of division A of Public 
Law 111–5) is amended by adding at the end of subtitle 
D of such Act (42 U.S.C. 17921 et seq.) the following: 
‘‘PART 3—IMPROVED PRIVACY AND SECURITY 
PROVISIONS FOR MENTAL ILLNESS PATIENTS 
‘‘SEC. 13431. CLARIFICATION OF CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER 
WHICH DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED HEALTH 
INFORMATION IS PERMITTED. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of enactment of the Including Families in Mental 
Health Recovery Act of 2015, the Secretary shall promul-
gate final regulations clarifying the circumstances under 
which, consistent with the standards governing the privacy 
and security of individually identifiable health information 
promulgated by the Secretary under sections 262(a) and 
264 of the Health Insurance Portability and Account-
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ability Act of 1996, health care providers and covered enti-
ties may disclose the protected health information of pa-
tients with a mental illness, including for purposes of— 
‘‘(1) communicating with a patient’s family, 
caregivers, friends, or others involved in the pa-
tient’s care, including communication about treat-
ments, side effects, risk factors, and the availability 
of community resources; 
‘‘(2) communicating with family or caregivers 
when the patient is an adult; 
‘‘(3) communicating with the parent or care-
giver of a patient who is a minor; 
‘‘(4) considering the patient’s capacity to agree 
or object to the sharing of their information; 
‘‘(5) communicating and sharing information 
with a patient’s family or caregivers when— 
‘‘(A) the patient consents; or 
‘‘(B) the patient does not consent, but the 
patient lacks the capacity to agree or object and 
the communication or sharing of information is 
in the patient’s best interest; 
‘‘(6) involving a patient’s family members, 
friends, or caregivers, or others involved in the pa-
tient’s care in the patient’s care plan, including 
treatment and medication adherence, in dealing with 
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