New confidentiality regulations take effect on February 2, 2018.
The Federal Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records (42 CFR Part 2) was revised on January 3, 2018, and becomes effective on February 2, 2018. This regulation affects 1) health providers who offer substance abuse treatment programs, and 2) any records released by a Part 2 treatment program are protected by this regulation. So, any organization who receives any records from a substance abuse program may be subject to this regulation!
Eagle Consulting Partners has made available a Redlined 42 CFR Part 2 showing the exact changes that have been made to 42 CFR Part 2. The changes go into effect on February 2, 2018. These regulation changes are designed to ease the strict confidentiality safeguards to accommodate common sense needs in today’s healthcare system. Among the key changes are:
- 32 – SAMHSA will now accept a shorter confidentiality notice to fit in the standard text space within health care electronic systems.
- 33 – Part 2 programs previously could only disclose records to persons/entities stated in the consent (except for central registries and criminal justice referrals). Now, if for treatment and/or healthcare operations, the recipient of the records from the part 2 program can also disclose as necessary for its contractors or legal representatives to perform payment and/or health care operations.
- 53 – SAMHSA has made changes to clarify that records can be provided for a wide variety of audits. These audits may include those performed by federal, state, and local governments. Records may also be disclosed for audits performed by contractors on behalf of third-party payers or quality improvement organizations.
Eagle Consulting provides consulting services to assist with 42 CFR Part 2 including policy and procedure development, audits, and training.
Click here to access and download our 42 CFR Part 2 Redline with 1-2-18 Changes.
