Health Law Informer

Patient privacy concerns are at an all-time high following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Following their statements affirming that abortion constitutes basic and essential health to which every woman should be entitled issued by both Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Office of Civil Rights of HHS (“OCR”) released new guidance on June 29^th clarifying scenarios when an individual’s protected health information (“PHI”) may, but does not have to be, released. One such example is disclosures required for law enforcement purposes. OCR explains that the Privacy Rule permits, but does not require covered entities to disclose PHI about an individual for law enforcement purposes “pursuant to process and as otherwise required by law”, under certain conditions. For example, “a covered entity may respond to a law enforcement request made through such legal processes as a court order or court-ordered warrant, or a subpoena or summons, by disclosing only the requested PHI, provided that all of the conditions specified in the Privacy Rule for permissible law enforcement disclosures are met.” It states further: