The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in cooperation with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is conducting a Confidentiality and Privacy Issues Related to Psychological Testing Data study pursuant to 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) to assess whether the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s special protections relating to the use and disclosure of psychotherapy notes should 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.”
As part of this study, SAMHSA is hosting public meetings to bring together professionals in the areas of mental health and privacy protection to discuss current practices and the policy implications surrounding this very important issue. The next regional public meeting will be held at the Sheraton Los Angeles Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles, California on November 18, 2010. The details of this meeting, as well as the project staff contact information, are contained in the embedded brochure below.
You can register for this meeting directly: here , or via the same announcement on OCR’s website here.
Other Recent Developments
If you found this information of interest, you also may be interested in reviewing some of the following recent Updates available online by clicking on the article title:
- CMS Delegated Lead Responsibility For Development of New Affordable Care Act-Required Medicare Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol
- HHS announces Rules Implementing Tools Added By Affordable Care Act to Prevent Federal Health Program Fraud
- HHS announces Rules Implementing Tools Added By Affordable Care Act to Prevent Federal Health Program Fraud
- Monday 9/13 Deadline To Comment Proposed HITECH Act HIPAA Privacy Rules; 9/14 Meeting Studies Proposed Changes
- OIG: Texas Overbilled Medicaid for Medical Transportation Costs
- DMEPOS Suppliers Face 9/27 Deadline To Meet Tightened Medicare Standards
- Initial EHR Certification Bodies Named
- HHS Announces Adjustments to Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) Rates
- CMS Publishes Corrections To Proposed 2011 Physician Fee Schedule Rules
- Medicare Changing How It Pays For Outpatient Dialysis
- Last Call: Today Deadline To Comment on Proposed Edits To CMS Nursing Home Civil Monetary Penalty Regs
- Rite Aid Agrees to Pay $1 Million to Settle HIPAA Privacy Case As OCR Moves To Tighten Privacy Rules
- HHS Invites Input On Medicaid Changes To Promote Children’s Health Quality
- CMS Adopts ESRD Facility Prospective Payment System & Proposes New Quality Incentive Program
- CMS Rule Clarifies When Outpatient Services Subject to 3-Day Rule & Finalizes FY 2011 Inpatient Payment Rates
- New Affordable Care Act Mandated High Risk Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Pool Program Regulations Set Program Rules, Prohibit Plan Dumping of High Risk Members
- CMS & ONC To Co-Host 7/22 ONC Certification & Medicare/Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Audio Training
- CMS Proposes Changes To Civil Monetary Penalty Rules For Nursing Homes
For More Information
We hope that this information is useful to you. If you need assistance evaluating or responding to the Health Care Reform Law or health care compliance, risk management, transactional, operational, reimbursement, or public policy concerns, please contact the author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, at (469) 767-8872, cstamer@Solutionslawyer.net.
Vice President of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association, Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section and the former Board Compliance Chair of the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas, Ms. Stamer has more than 23 years experience advising health industry clients about these and other matters. A popular lecturer and widely published author on health industry concerns, Ms. Stamer continuously advises health industry clients about compliance and internal controls, workforce and medical staff performance, quality, governance, reimbursement, and other risk management and operational matters. Ms. Stamer also publishes and speaks extensively on health and managed care industry regulatory, staffing and human resources, compensation and benefits, technology, public policy, reimbursement and other operations and risk management concerns. Her insights on these and other related matters appear in the Health Care Compliance Association, Atlantic Information Service, Bureau of National Affairs, World At Work, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insurance, the Dallas Morning News, Modern Health Care, Managed Healthcare, Health Leaders, and a many other national and local publications. For additional information about Ms. Stamer, her experience, involvements, programs or publications, see here.
You can review other recent health care and internal controls resources and additional information about the health industry and other experience of Ms. Stamer here. If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile at here or e-mailing this information here. To unsubscribe, e-mail here.
©2010 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Limited license to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
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