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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized changes to the Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Patient Records regulations (Part 2 Statute 42 U.S.C. 290dd-2), which protect the confidentiality of SUD treatment records at federally assisted programs/facilities. Some of the major changes include, but are not limited to, restricting the use of records and testimony in civil, administrative, and legislative proceedings against patients without patient consent or a court order; applying the same requirements of the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule to breaches of SUD records under Part 2; and creating a new definition for an SUD clinician’s notes analyzing the conversation in an SUD counseling session that the clinician voluntarily maintains separately from the rest of the patient’s SUD treatment/medical record (similar to protections under HIPAA for “psychotherapy notes”). The Final Rule becomes effective on April 16, 2024. A fact sheet on the Final Rule can be accessed here.
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