In an article published online on August 28, 2024, by Healthcare Risk Management, Brooks Pierce attorney Claire O’Brien discusses the changes recently made by Health and Human Services (HHS) to the confidentiality of substance use disorder (SUD) records.
O’Brien explains that the changes should increase access to quality treatment by improving healthcare providers’ ability to “treat the whole patient.” Part 2 violations will now be subject to both criminal and civil penalties, so many Part 2 rules are now defined by reference to HIPAA. O’Brien says that this should make the interpretation of these rules more straightforward.
“Long-term, the revised rules should reduce the compliance burden on providers,” O’Brien says, “although this will require an upfront time commitment as they revise their policies to ensure alignment with the new Part 2 framework.”
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