RE: Mental Health Records

[Jeremy Edes Pierotti]

I am not an attorney, but my interpretation is that it's not enough for mental health records in general to be in a separate part of the chart.  That's because the mental health records probably contain lots of other information (treatment plan, diagnosis, etc.) that is not considered part of a psychotherapy note.  So in order for the counselor's notes to be considered "psychotherapy notes," those notes have to be separate from anything else in the medical record.   Now, it's also worth noting that there is nothing in HIPAA that prevents a provider from storing counseling session notes with other mental health records, or with the patient's general medical record.  But those notes summarizing or analyzinng contents of a counseling session would not, in those circumstances, meet the Privacy rule's definition of "psychotherapy notes." ********************************* Jeremy Edes Pierotti Validus Consulting [EMAIL PROTECTED] 612-669-8221      -----Original Message----- From: Tricia Lobdell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 1:14 PM To: < Subject: Mental Health Records Would appreciate someone's "take" on  this.....   We have a multispeciality physician office (all the physicians are part of one group).... so currently our outpatient mental health records are located in a separate section of the patient's medical record.  All of the patient's other outpatient records are in that chart also (i.e. Internal Med, ENT, Cardiology, etc.)... the mental health records are towards the back under a separate tab marked "Mental Health Records"...... is this acceptable under HIPAA   OR   do these records need to be kept in an entirely separate chart.  I am unclear if separate means "separate section" or "separate chart".  Our state law does not appear clear on this either.  Thanks for your input.   Tricia Lobdell HIPAA Coordinator The Monroe Clinic (608) 324.1802 The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. Posting of advertisements or other commercial use of this listserv is specifically prohibited. The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. Posting of advertisements or other commercial use of this listserv is specifically prohibited.