May 3, 2002

Since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services passed regulations last April protecting patients' privacy under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), many hospital employees have questions about how the new guidelines will affect how they care for patients.

To help educate MGHers about the new HIPAA guidelines, the hospital launched a patient confidentiality awareness campaign last November. As part of the campaign, specific questions from employees about addressing issues of patient confidentiality will be published periodically in Hotline (see below). The questions are answered by Deborah Adair, director of MGH Health Information Services, and Eileen Bryan, MGH project manager for HIPAA.

Q: A 16-year-old female patient requests a copy of her medical record, but she doesn't want her parents to know. Does she need a parent's authorization to receive these records?

A: According to state law, if the patient is married, a parent of a child, pregnant or a member of the armed forces, she is an emancipated minor and is entitled to authorize the release of her own medical records.

Q: A hospital employee is out on sick leave. One of his co-workers comes across a lab report that says the employee is a patient at the MGH and is being treated for hepatitis. What should the co-worker do now that the information is known?

A: Since all lab reports are confidential, the co-worker cannot discuss the details with anyone. The co-worker should behave as though he or she had never seen this information — including not disclosing to the employee that his condition has been discovered.

For more information about patient confidentiality policies at the MGH, call (617) 726-6360.