Redisclosure of Patient Health Information

CHICAGO, February 3, 2009—Redisclosure of protected health information (PHI) is necessary for patient care across the healthcare continuum. However, the practice leads to questions about the appropriateness of disclosing information that originated in or at another healthcare facility, according to an updated practice brief published in the February Journal of AHIMA.

An organization must know their responsibilities and processes for classifying and managing records that are received from other sources. Identifying records as part of the designated record set will determine how an organization should redisclose them. Redisclosure of Patient Health Information offers guidance for the practice and management of this bidirectional redisclosure of PHI.

This article defines the HIPAA privacy rule and the redisclosure responsibilities that are relevant to federal and state laws. Also listed are 12 recommendations that organizations should consider following to determine their policies and practices regarding redisclosure.

There are also two sidebars that include case examples and a redisclosure question and answer section.

Read the complete article in the February issue of the Journal of AHIMA or online at journal.ahima.org.

About AHIMA

The American Health Information Management Association is America’s leading professional society whose mission is to “improve healthcare by advancing best practices and standards for health information management and [serve as] the trusted source for education, research and professional credentialing.” AHIMA represents more than 53,000 specially educated HIM professionals who serve healthcare and the public by managing, analyzing and utilizing data vital for health system management. www.ahima.org