can hospitals release information to police
Content created by Office for Civil Rights (OCR), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Disclosures for Law Enforcement Purposes (5), Disposal of Protected Health Information (6), Judicial and Administrative Proceedings (8), Right to an Accounting of Disclosures (8), Treatment, Payment, and Health Care Operations Disclosures (30). The alleged batterer may try to request the release of medical records. Law Enforcement and Healthcare: When Consent, Privacy, and Safety PHIPA provides four grounds for disclosure that apply to police. > 2097-If a law enforcement officer brings a patient to a hospital or other mental health facility to be placed on a temporary psychiatric hold, and requests to be notified if or when the patient is released, can the facility make that notification? To the Director of Mental Health for statistical data. To respond to a request for PHI for purposes of identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person; but the covered entity must limit disclosures of PHI to name and address, date and place of birth, social security number, ABO blood type and rh factor, type of injury, date and time of treatment, date and time of death, and a description of distinguishing physical characteristics. 28. TIMELINE: What led to Lisa Edwards' death and has happened since Is BAC in hospital records private? - Oberdorfer Law Firm A typical example is TERENCE CARDINAL COOKE HEALTH CARE CENTER, NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES 8 (2003) ("Law Enforcement. For starters, a hospital can release patient information to a law enforcement official when the details are used for the identification and location of a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person. In other words, law enforcement is entitled to your records simply by asserting that you are a suspect or the victim of a crime. In such cases, the covered entity is presumed to have acted in good faith where its belief is based upon the covered entitys actual knowledge (i.e., based on the covered entitys own interaction with the patient) or in reliance on a credible representation by a person with apparent knowledge or authority (i.e., based on a credible report from a family member or other person). Indeed, the HIPAA rules requiring notice of access to medical records for foreign intelligence gathering would seem to cover these situations, and are not explicitly contradicted by the Patriot Act. HIPAA applies to physicians and other individual and institutional health care providers (e.g., dentists, psychologists, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, etc.). Health Care Providers and Immigration Enforcement 0 Leading in Turbulent Times: Effective Campus Public Safety Leadership for the 21st Century.