[Transcript] Episode 437: Hurricanes, HIPAA Waivers, and Support

 

Evan Dumas 

You’re listening to Group Practice Tech, a podcast by Person Centered Tech, where we help mental health group practice owners ethically and effectively leverage tech to improve their practices. I’m your co-host, Evan Dumas.

 

Liath Dalton 

And I’m Liath Dalton, and we are Person Centered Tech.

 

Liath Dalton 

This episode is brought to you by Therapy Notes. Therapy Notes is a robust online practice management and electronic health record system to support you in growing your thriving practice. Therapy Notes is a complete practice management system with all the functionality you need to manage client records, meet with clients, remotely, create rich documentation, schedule appointments and bill insurance all right at your fingertips. To get two free months of Therapy Notes as a new Therapy Notes user go to therapynotes.com and use promo code PCT.

 

Liath Dalton 

Hello and welcome to Episode 437: Hurricanes, HIPAA Waivers and Support.

 

Liath Dalton 

We at Person Centered Tech want to take a moment to just acknowledge the immense devastation and disruption to community and life and sense of security that has impacted so many in our country, and we know that it is impacting a lot of mental health practices that are both navigating these disasters and the impact to each of the team members within the practice personally, but then doing so while simultaneously trying to provide support to their clients and broader communities in this time of immense need.

 

Liath Dalton 

So, just want to express appreciation for what you are facing, and appreciation for what you are bringing, in the midst of all of that, to your clients and communities, and to those of you who are not directly impacted by the hurricanes that have recently landed and are just at the time of recording, about to make landfall as well, stay tuned, because there are some pieces of ways that you can provide support as well as some noteworthy items in the event that in the future, you may be impacted by a natural disaster or other such situation, and knowing how that then impacts HIPAA.

 

Liath Dalton 

Which, of course, is not top of mind when navigating a disaster, but it still is applicable, though, in the event of a disaster and the state of a disaster declaration, there are limited waivers of HIPAA enforcement. Because, in such a occurrence, what is necessary or what takes priority over the application of typical required safeguards or receipt of authorizations and so on, what gets prioritized is that those not impede access to care and the ability to deliver care. So it becomes a balancing act, but there are limited enforcement waivers that get issued in the event of a natural disaster declaration.

 

Liath Dalton 

So as of now, there has been a disaster declaration and public health emergency declaration related to hurricane Helene, and there has been a disaster declaration and public health emergency declaration related to the imminent landing of hurricane Milton. The standard for those declarations, and the impact on the limited HIPAA waiver enforcement is that they last for 90 days, but by default, but will be in effect as long as the state of disaster, as assessed by the Secretary of HHS determines it to be reasonable. And check out the show notes for a link to the HHS page, which has all of the data, the Public Health Emergency declarations and then the specific limited waivers of HIPAA sanctions and penalties during a declared emergency that are listed, which have further details.

 

Liath Dalton 

But, typically there are waivers of sanctions and penalties related to requirements to obtain a patient’s agreement to speak with family members or friends involved in the patient’s care, requirement to distribute Notice of Privacy Practices before providing care, and the client right to request confidential communications if that is not possible. So check out, if you are in an impacted area and are wondering how to manage things going forward as HIPAA applies in your practice, while you’re practicing in this context, do check out those aspects in the particular declarations for your area.

 

Liath Dalton 

And then I also just wanted to share that we had actually had a recent question come up, which was from a practice that was impacted directly by hurricane Helene, was not, had a client that was not able to access Wi Fi, had no Wi Fi, and so couldn’t join their video session with their provider through the practice’s EHR, and asked to do a phone session instead. But their provider didn’t have a HIPAA secure phone service where they had a Business Associate Agreement in place. So in lieu of having the HIPAA appropriate system to be able to meet the HIPAA Security Rule requirements in providing that healthcare, opted to cancel the session and reschedule at such a time as the platforms were accessible to that client. But this is exactly the sort of circumstance that the waivers apply to.

 

Liath Dalton 

Now I want to note that all of the waivers include the emphasis that safeguarding patient information is is still a priority, that they say covered entities must continue to implement reasonable safeguards to protect patient information against intentional or unintentional, impermissible uses and disclosures, and that further covered entities must apply the administrative, physical and technical safeguards of the HIPAA Security Rule to electronic Protected Health Information. So HIPAA doesn’t go away.

 

Liath Dalton 

And these waivers aren’t saying HIPAA no longer applies. It just is a matter of in these circumstances, when these limited waivers are in place that failure to meet the standards and apply the required safeguards, if it is done in a minimum necessary capacity, and because there is no alternative, and what is being prioritized is access to care, that there will not be penalties or enforcement of those standards that aren’t able to be met in this particular context.

 

Liath Dalton 

So enough about HIPAA, but I just wanted to make sure that folks were aware of the existence of the limited waivers how to access them and what they kind of mean. But then, above and beyond that, with regards to the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene and how folks can get involved in providing support, our wonderful colleague and friend, Patrick Casale, of All Things Private Practice, who himself is an Asheville, North Carolina resident and was directly impacted, both personally and for his practice.

 

Liath Dalton 

But Patrick, being who he is, and connected to so many wonderful folks in the community has curated an excellent list of resources, which I’m linking to in the show notes, so that those who are directly impacted and need assistance can connect to those those resources and that community of care and support and. Then for those of you who aren’t directly impacted, but want to provide some support in some way, there is also a GoFundMe that is funding local nonprofits that are providing direct support and care to people that are impacted. So I’m linking to those as well, and just want to invite everyone to provide what support that you you can.

 

Liath Dalton 

And for those of you who are impacted, know that you are deeply cared for and not alone, and that there are folks across the country who are holding you in our hearts and also committed to providing direct material resources and support as well.

 

Liath Dalton 

So take good care everyone, and stay tuned for next time.

 

Liath Dalton 

This has been Group Practice Tech you can find us at personcenteredtech.com. For more podcast episodes, you can go to personcenteredtech.com/podcast or click podcast on the menu bar.