RE: Mental Health Records

[timmcguinness]

Let me pose another question relative to this.  The Baker Act allows police to perform a field evaluation of the psychiatric state of an individual, and take them into custody for further evaluation.  This descriptive information relating the the state of the individual becomes part of a publicly disclosable police report.  It's my belief that a) HIPAA Privacy Rule applies because of the electronic transactional nature of this, as well as the type of PHI collected, and b) that it supercedes state law allowing public access the police report on demand.   So I would be interested in anyone's opinions on the subject of how and where the Privacy Rule applies during the course of arrest, detention, medical evaluation, through to the court proceedings.  Have any of you explored this thus far?   Thanks.     Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. President, HIPAA Help Now Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.hipaahelpnow.com   Executive Co-Chairman for Privacy, HIPAA Compliance Certification Organization (HCCO) www.hipaacertification.org __________________________________________________________________ Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. - Instant Access ICQ#:                                  22396626 MSN Instant Messenger:      [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo Instant Messenger:   timmcguinness AOL Instant Messenger:      mcguinnesstim __________________________________________________________________ =========================================================================== IMPORTANT NOTICE: This communication, including any attachment, contains information that may be confidential or privileged, and is intended solely for the entity or individual to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender at once, and you should delete this message and are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message is strictly prohibited. Nothing in this email, including any attachment, is intended to be a legally binding signature. -----Original Message----- From: Tricia Lobdell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 3:14 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.