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NY vows to protect patient confidentiality
Author(s) -
Knopf Alison
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
alcoholism and drug abuse weekly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7591
pISSN - 1042-1394
DOI - 10.1002/adaw.32502
Subject(s) - confidentiality , controlled substance , medical prescription , mental health , methadone , informed consent , substance abuse , medicine , mental health act , health care , medical emergency , internet privacy , psychiatry , business , political science , law , nursing , alternative medicine , pathology , computer science
At last month's annual recovery conference of the Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers of New York State (ASAP), one of the speakers was Elinore McCance‐Katz, M.D., Ph.D., assistant secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services and head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which had recently put forward two rulemakings aimed at weakening 42 CFR Part 2, the confidentiality regulation protecting substance use disorder patient records (see ADAW , Sept. 9). One of the proposals would eliminate the prohibition for opioid treatment programs (OTPs) putting their patient information on I‐STOP, the state's prescription monitoring program. This would mean that patients taking methadone for opioid use disorder would no longer have their confidentiality protected, and that other health care providers could immediately look them up to see if they are taking methadone. Key to 42 CFR Part 2 is consent: Patients must consent to the release of their information, with that consent stating to whom the information will be released. New York's consent form is even more specific, including a provision for releasing information — or not — to the electronic health record. (For the consent form, see right).