HIPAA Requirements for Counselors

The U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed in 1996 and is concerned with protecting the privacy of health information. HIPAA makes it illegal for healthcare professionals to share a patient's private health information. This includes written, oral and electronic forms of communication. This applies to healthcare as well as mental healthcare professionals, including mental health counselors.

Consent to Share Information

• HIPAA is meant to protect the privacy of personal health information including information collected by a counselor or therapist for mental health treatment. There are times, however, when health information must be shared. First, when the client has authorized the sharing of information. This usually takes the form of a "Release of Information," form that includes specific information about the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Circumstances in which private health information is shared includes coordinating care and treatment with other healthcare providers, payment activities in order to attain payment or reimbursement and certain health care operations such as medical reviews and for insurance purposes.

Sharing Information without Consent

• There are some instances specified by HIPAA in which the counselor may share a client's private information. For instance, in an emergency situation or if the client is incapacitated and the information is necessary for his care, it may be shared. A counselor also is required to share information on the client if the counselor believes that someone is at risk of serious or imminent physical threat to himself or others. For instance, if a client disclosed to the counselor that he planned to commit suicide, the counselor is required to do everything in her power to connect the client with help, even if this involves breaking confidentiality and sharing private health information of the client.

Client's Access to Information

• Under HIPAA, counselors and therapists are allowed to deny client's access to certain types of psychotherapy notes. This is not a simple matter, however, and depends on laws in individual states as well. Moreover, this only pertains to the counselor's private, process notes, the client have the right to access information that is considered part of the client's medical record. This includes records of medications, diagnosis, symptoms, prognosis of treatment, treatment plan, clinical test results and types of treatment.