How to Find Out if Someone Was in a Mental Facility in the Past

In 1996, Congress instituted a federal patient privacy policy known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. HIPAA's purpose is to protect and secure private health information, and to discourage inappropriate disclosure of confidential data. Having been admitted to a mental health facility is a sensitive issue that former patients might wish to keep confidential. Since the HIPAA rules apply to mental health facilities, it is not possible to obtain information on a former patient unless you have a court ordered subpoena or are listed on the patient's "release of information" form.

Instructions

• 1

  Ask the person in question about past hospitalizations. Some people are willing to give out information concerning their own experiences, and will confess to having been in a mental health facility if they are not ashamed to say so, or if they feel like it will help the other person to know. Others will want to keep such information private.

• 2

  Find out through the person's friends or family members. Those who are close to the individual might be able to shed some light on whether they have any knowledge of the individual being in a mental health facility. However, if friends or relatives do not want you to have the information, they will withhold it from you. The purpose for your question will determine how much information you are given. For instance, if you are calling because the individual committed an act of violence in school, friends or relatives might be willing to help by letting you know that the person was, indeed, in a mental facility.

• 3

  Obtain a court order for medical records from a mental health facility. If you have reason to believe that the individual is a danger to self or others, or if the individual in question committed a crime that requires his mental health records to be investigated, the courts can subpoena mental health records from mental health facilities and all attending psychiatrists or therapists. By law, the mental health facility is required to turn over the records.

• 4

  Request the medical records from the patient's former psychiatrist or the mental health facility. This is only applicable if you are a physician who needs to obtain information to provide quality care to the patient. In the health field, this is known as coordination of care. In order for the information to be released to you, you will need to introduce yourself as the patient's new doctor, provide your physician license number and identify the health clinic that you work for.