In Brief...

HIPAA Publication Available

SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) recently released an educational document that compares the Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records regulation (42 CFR Part 2) with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule (45 CFR Parts 160 and 164).

The Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records Regulation and the HIPAA Privacy Rule: Implications for Alcohol and Substance Abuse Programs is a summary that highlights the most significant areas in which the two Federal regulations interact. The document is targeted to substance abuse treatment programs that already comply with the Part 2 regulations but that require direction about how to integrate the Privacy Rule into their business and clinical processes.

Subject areas include the applicability of the Privacy Rule, how the Privacy Rule affects disclosures of information, when disclosures are permitted, patient rights, administrative requirements, and security issues.

For more information on HIPAA, see SAMHSA News, January/February 2004, online at http://www.samhsa.gov/SAMHSA_News/VolumeXII_1/
article3.htm.

For more information, contact Sarah A. Wattenberg, the SAMHSA HIPAA Coordinator, at swattenb@samhsa.hhs.gov; for information about Part 2 regulations, contact Dr. Kirk James at CSAT at kjames@samhsa.hhs.gov.

A print copy of the publication will be released soon. For availability, check with the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at P.O. Box 2345, Rockville, MD 20847-2345. Telephone: 1 (800) 729-6686 (English or Spanish) or 1 (800) 487-4889 (TDD). The document can be viewed at the SAMHSA's Web site at www.hipaa.samhsa.gov.

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