Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HHS Relaxes Strict Privacy Regulations That Keep Doctors From Seeing If Patient Was Treated For Opioid Addiction
The Associated Press: Feds To Revamp Confidentiality Rules For Addiction Treatment
Federal health officials are proposing to revamp stringent patient confidentiality rules from the 1970s to encourage coordination among medical professionals treating people caught in the nation's opioid epidemic. The idea is to make it easier to share a patient's drug treatment history with doctors treating that person for other problems. That can stave off serious — even fatal — errors, like unwittingly prescribing opioid painkillers to a surgical patient with a history of dependence. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 8/22)
Modern Healthcare: HHS Changes Privacy Restrictions Around Addiction Treatment
Senior officials described these regulations, known as CFR Part 2, as "so complex" they have deterred clinicians from getting involved in treating addiction despite the escalating need. Under revisions proposed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and introduced by HHS Secretary Alex Azar and his deputies, records of a substance abuse disorder and treatment would no longer be subject to the extra privacy laws that pre-date HIPAA. (Luthi and Johnson, 8/22)
Stat: In Bid To Improve Care, Trump Administration To Relax Privacy Rules For Patients With History Of Addiction
The change would allow hospitals and other providers to enter addiction treatment into a medical record as a standard element of patient history, Azar said. Under the new rule, doctors would also be given access to information about treatment through outside addiction care facilities for patients seeking addiction care. (Facher, 8/22)
CQ: HHS Proposes Update To Health Privacy Rules For Drug Abuse
“We do believe that the proposed changes that we are putting out today are very common-sense, responsive changes to concerns that both patients and providers have raised regarding providing holistic, collaborative, patient-centered care,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a call with reporters Thursday. But Azar also alluded to a desire from some lawmakers and many in the health provider and insurance community to make broader changes that would make it less onerous to navigate the substance use treatment privacy requirements of Part 2 and the broader patient privacy rules set out by the federal law restricting release of medical information (PL 104-191), also known as HIPAA. (Siddons and Raman, 8/22)
The Hill: Trump Officials Propose Easing Privacy Rules To Improve Addiction Treatment
Officials stressed that there are still privacy protections, for example maintaining protections that prevent law enforcement from using addiction treatment records against a patient. “Everything is done with a patient's consent,” Azar said. (Sullivan, 8/22)
