HHS‐proposed rule gutting HIPAA would especially hurt patients with SUD

Abstract

In the ongoing call to make 42 CFR like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), people who want access to patient records for alcohol and drug use disorders may be thinking “Watch out what you ask for.” Now the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made good on a promise to try to get rid of most of the protections of HIPAA (See “HHS considers weakening HIPAA,” ADAW January 21 2019; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32231). The proposed modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, published Jan. 21 in the Federal Register and released earlier (see ADAW, Jan. 11), would have negative consequences for people with substance use disorder (SUD) — and to all patients — according to comments filed by the Legal Action Center and the American Medical Association.