The increased regulation of health care information has been both a benefit and a burden, many would argue. Certainly, no one would dispute the importance of protecting personal health care information. On the other hand, some practitioners find the rules so technical and confusing that they err on the side of refusing all disclosures, even when the rules permit.
In clinical practice, physicians may be particularly uncertain about their ability to share a patient’s health information with the patient’s family members, friends, or other involved persons identified by the patient under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. Fortunately, this is one area of privacy regulation in which common sense and logic will usually lead to a solution that is both practical and compliant.
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