Description: A legal blog about consumer privacy and data security in a high-tech world
by Kathie McDonald-McClure
On November 28, 2022, the Secretary for the United States Department of Health & Human Services ( HHS ) released a Proposed Rule to amend the requirements in Title 42, Part 2, on confidentiality of substance use disorder (SUD) patient records in federally assisted Part 2 Programs. Part 2 protects the confidentiality of SUD patient records (which generally include alcoholism, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse treatment and prevention records) by restricting the circumstances under which Part 2 Programs or other
Section 3221 of the CARES Act of 2020 , enacted by Congress on March 27, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in effect, had amended Title 42, Part 2, to align it with HIPAA but also required HHS to implement these amendments in the Part 2 regulation through the rule-making process. The 260-page Proposed Rule, in sum, would incorporate requirements and definitions from the HIPAA rules into the 40-year-old Part 2 regulation, including HIPAA’s consent, disclosure, de-identification, unsecured PHI and b