Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Health Services › DHS 30-100 - Community Services › Chapter DHS 92 - Confidentiality Of Treatment Records › Section DHS 92.03 - General requirements

Current through June 24, 2024
(1) TREATMENT RECORDS.
(a) All treatment records or spoken
				information which in any way identifies a patient are considered confidential
				and privileged to the subject individual.
(b) If notes or records maintained for
				personal use are to be made available to other persons, they shall be placed in
				the treatment record, become part of that record and be governed by this
				chapter.
(c) The department and
				every board, treatment facility and service provider shall designate in writing
				one or more persons to serve as record custodians.
(d) The department and every board, treatment
				facility and service provider shall develop a notice describing the agency's
				treatment record access procedures. The notice shall be prominently displayed
				and made available for inspection and copying.
(e) Information requests shall be filled as
				soon as practicable. If a request is denied, specific reasons shall be given
				for denying the request.
(f) No
				personally identifiable information contained in treatment records may be
				released in any manner, including oral disclosure, except as authorized under
				s.
				51.30, Stats., this
				chapter or as otherwise provided by law.
(g) Whenever requirements of federal law
				regarding alcoholism and drug dependence services in 42 CFR Part 2 require
				restrictions on the disclosure of treatment records greater than the
				restrictions required by this section, the federal requirements shall be
				observed.
(h) No personally
				identifiable information in treatment records may be re-released by a recipient
				of the treatment record unless re-release is specifically authorized by
				informed consent of the subject individual, by this chapter or as otherwise
				required by law.
(i) Any disclosure
				or re-release, except oral disclosure, of confidential information shall be
				accompanied by a written statement which states that the information is
				confidential and disclosure without patient consent or statutory authorization
				is prohibited by law.
(j) Members
				and committees of boards shall not have access to treatment records. In
				meetings of boards and board committees, the program directors shall ensure
				that patient identities are not revealed or made obvious by description of
				particular patient situations.
(k)
				All treatment records shall be maintained in a secure manner to ensure that
				unauthorized persons do not have access to the records.
(L) Pupil records of minor patients in
				educational programs within treatment facilities, which are disclosed pursuant
				to s.
				118.125, Stats.,
				shall not contain any information from other treatment records unless there is
				specific informed consent for release of that information as required under s.
				DHS
				92.06.
(m)
				No treatment record information may be released to a person previously unknown
				to the agency unless there is reasonable assurance regarding the person's
				identity.
(n) Whenever information
				from treatment records is disclosed, that information shall be limited to
				include only the information necessary to fulfill the request.
(o) Any request by a treatment facility for
				written information shall include a statement that the patient has the right of
				access to the information as provided under ss.
				DHS
				92.05 and
				92.06.
(p) The conditions set forth in this section
				shall be broadly and liberally interpreted in favor of confidentiality to cover
				a record in question.
Note: If a person requesting information does not qualify for
				  it under the section cited in this chapter, other sections should be reviewed
				  to determine if the requester qualifies under another section.