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Memo to Ombudsmen Memo to Ombudsmen
Dear State Ombudsmen:
FYI, the following announcement appeared
on Feb. 19, 2003 in HIPAA Wire, an electronic newsletter put out by Medical
Newswire. AoA is writing to the nursing home associations and will seek
other avenues to inform the nursing home industry that HIPAA permits facilities
to release resident and other information to ombudsmen. Please help in any
way you can to get the word around to the facilities in your state. Thanks.
Sue Wheaton, AoA Ombudsman Program Specialist
The HIPAA Privacy Rule and Access to
Information by the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program
(HIPAA Wire) On February 4, 2003,
the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) issued an information memorandum
clarifying the effect of the HIPAA Privacy Rule on access to residents' records
and other information by representatives of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program
(LTCOP) under the Older Americans Act.
The memorandum states that the
Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights, the Federal
agency that administers the Privacy Rule, concurs with AoA's determination that
since ombudsman programs have oversight responsibilities authorized for a
component of the health care system, they are health oversight agencies, as
defined in the Privacy Rule.
Therefore, the Privacy Rule does
not preclude release of residents' clinical records to the LTCOP, with or
without authorization of the resident or resident's representative. Also,
nursing homes and other "covered entities" may, in response to
appropriate ombudsman inquiries, share other information without fear of
violating the Privacy Rule. The memorandum also addresses access to residents'
files by residents and their representatives.
The memorandum is available on
AoA's website home page: www.aoa.gov
N.B. The memorandum is
also available here
on the NORC website
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