Michael Bertoncini writes:
Health insurance carriers often provide explanation of benefits (EOB) summaries to the policyholder specifying the type and cost of health care services received by dependents covered by the policy. EOBs often disclose sensitive information regarding the mental or physical health condition of adult dependents. Massachusetts has now enacted a law, an act to protect access to confidential health care (the PATCH Act), that permits patients to require their insurance carriers to send their medical information only to them as opposed to the policyholder. This will permit a spouse or adult child of the policyholder to keep medical information from being shared with the policyholder. The law also requires insurance carriers to use a common summary of payments form to be developed by the Massachusetts Division of Insurance. The law takes effect April 1, 2019; however, any carrier that has the capacity to provide electronic access to common summary of payments forms prior to that date must do so.
Read more on Jackson Lewis Workplace Privacy, DataManagement & Security Report.