Kerry Dooley Young reports:
A House panel on Tuesday debated approaches for giving medical professionals broader access to information about patients’ histories of substance abuse, while also trying to protect people from discriminatory use of this information.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s health panel held a hearing on proposed legislation, titled the Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act. It would permit sharing of substance abuse disorder (SUD) records between so-called covered entities, which the committee’s briefing memo describes as “health providers, payers, and business associates.” This sharing would fall under the rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) “for the purposes of treatment, payment, and healthcare operations,” the memo stated.
Read more on Medscape.