HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, and FERPA - Rules for Managing Student Health Information

from Roger Steven

Overview:

This session focuses on the issues of managing health information when it may that of students and may involve substance abuse treatment information.

HIPAA and FERPA allow a number of disclosures without consent that SAMHSA prohibits without consent.

First we will explain how HIPAA relates to information management and release and explain the processes required for various releases of information under the HIPAA and FERPA rules, including release according to individual access requests, and under consents and HIPAA authorizations.

While FERPA overrides HIPAA, both HIPAA and FERPA take a back seat to the rules under 42 CFR Part 2. When substance abuse treatment information is involved, first you need to understand how to identify it. We will discuss how to make it distinguishable from "regular"health information, so that the appropriate extra protections can be provided. You may be able to use functions in your EHR to flag the information, or you may create a manual process for tracking the information, if it is rarely handled in your organization.

And the substance abuse treatment information you collect may or may not be under SAMHSA depending on whether or not you have a department or even a response team that specializes in SAMHSA-related situations. You need to understand your status under the rules before you release information inappropriately. We will discuss what qualifies treatment that falls under SAMHSA.

If your organization provides services that create information that is under the SAMHSA regulations, you will need to establish the consent and release of information processes that are required to be followed for information releases under 42 CFR Part 2. This involves getting the proper consents upon establishment of the relationship, as well as managing consents for releases that may be necessary after the initial establishment of the relationship. The session will include an explanation of the consent and release requirements that must be followed.

When you release information under HIPAA, there are no special notices required to be placed on the records. But when you release information under SAMHSA, each document must have a notice that explains that re-disclosure is not permitted without a new consent.

Complicating matters are updated rules going into effect that will allow a consent that permits a re-release to a defined team of providers caring for the individual, but then require meticulous documentation of to whom the information has been released under such a consent. The session will go over the rules on consents and re-release of information.

This session will explore the complications and requirements of each of the rules controlling student health information, HIPAA, FERPA, and 42 CFR Part 2, and provide insights into how to apply the rules in an education setting.

Why you should Attend: For much of healthcare, HIPAA sets the standards for how to manage uses and disclosures of patient information, known as Protected Health Information (PHI). But when it comes to information about students, even health information is controlled under the FERPA rules.

For information related to the treatment of substance use disorders, regulations of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) under 42 CFR Part 2 prevail. These rules apply to information collected under SAMHSA, which may be difficult to separate from "regular" PHI in your records, and there are special rules for disclosure and re-disclosure of substance abuse treatment information.

Student health information may be subject to some or all of these rules, so it is essential to know where each rule applies and which rules supersede each other.

A number of factors must be considered when managing the privacy and security of student information. School records are rather decisively controlled by the FERPA regulations, but those regulations don't always apply, and when they don't, HIPAA steps in with the necessary privacy and security controls. While many of the concepts in the rules are similar, there are extensive detail differences (from )

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