The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in close cooperation with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR), is conducting a study of the “Confidentiality and Privacy Issues Related to Psychological Testing Data.” This study was specifically called for in section 13424 of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, a component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) (P.L. 111-5).
The Issue: HIPAA’s Privacy Rule includes special protections relating to the use and disclosure of psychotherapy notes; should these special protections also be applied to “test data that is related to direct responses, scores, items, forms, protocols, manuals or other materials that are part of a mental health evaluation?”
SAMHSA is hosting a regional public meeting at the DHHS Region 5 office in Chicago, Illinois, on October 7, 2010. This is a chance for you to learn about this issue and express your opinions. Registration is necessary, but there is no charge for attending. Another regional meeting will be held this year in Los Angeles in late November or early December.
For more information on the meeting and details, see SAMHSA’s site.
Via Dr. Ken Pope