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Possible Legal Barriers for PCP Access to Mental Health Treatment Records

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Abstract

Provider and payer groups have endorsed the goal of improving the integration of primary care and behavioral health across a variety of programs and settings. There is an interest in sharing patients’ medical information, a goal that is permissible within HIPAA, but there are concerns about more restrictive state medical privacy laws. This article assesses whether a substantial number of state medical privacy laws are, or could be interpreted to be, more restrictive than HIPAA. Preliminary investigation found that in almost one third of the states (including large-population states such as Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas), primary care physicians (PCPs) may have difficulty accessing mental health treatment records without the patient’s (or his/her guardian/conservator’s) written consent. If a comprehensive legal analysis supports this conclusion, then those advocating integration of behavioral and primary care may need to consider seeking appropriate state legislative solutions.

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Acknowledgments

The technical assistance of Patricia Smith is gratefully acknowledged.

Conflict of Interest

No authors have a conflict of interest to report, financial or otherwise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 16751 Edgar Street, Pacific Palisades, CA, 90272-3226, USA

    Leslie S. Rothenberg JD, MA

  2. Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Leslie S. Rothenberg JD, MA, David A. Ganz MD, PhD & Neil S. Wenger MD, MPH

  3. The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA

    Leslie S. Rothenberg JD, MA, David A. Ganz MD, PhD & Neil S. Wenger MD, MPH

  4. Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    David A. Ganz MD, PhD

  5. UCLA Health Ethics Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Neil S. Wenger MD, MPH

Authors
  1. Leslie S. Rothenberg JD, MA
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  2. David A. Ganz MD, PhD
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  3. Neil S. Wenger MD, MPH
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leslie S. Rothenberg JD, MA.

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Rothenberg, L.S., Ganz, D.A. & Wenger, N.S. Possible Legal Barriers for PCP Access to Mental Health Treatment Records. J Behav Health Serv Res 43, 319–329 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-015-9458-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-015-9458-7

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