HIPAA for Mental Health Professionals: A Detailed Guide

The Healthcare Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is what we use to describe the rules around using and transmitting identifiable health data.

HIPAA protects sensitive health information, it was also designed to allow for sharing of information when needed. That’s why knowing the key terms, rules and exceptions of HIPAA allows psychiatrists and behavioral health practitioners to communicate with their patients while complying with state laws, duty to warn requirements, and the Texas Medical Records Privacy Act.

HIPAA allows mental health professionals to set up systems to both protect and share data as needed to achieve good clinical outcomes. Following HIPAA is good practice to keep your clients private and trusting. Plus it helps with decision making when circumstances arise that may require sharing of information.

What is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed in 1996 to set national standards for health information uses, disclosures and protections. HIPAA impacts the handling of medical records, making it crucial to understand both federal and state regulations, such as the Texas Medical Records Privacy Act, which can preempt HIPAA's privacy protections.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established privacy and security standards through HIPAA to protect and share data when needed and necessary to achieve good clinical outcomes. So following HIPAA is good practice and can be particularly useful if you are a mental health professional.

Who is Covered by HIPAA?

Entities covered by HIPAA are clinicians, health care providers, health plans, and clearinghouses who transmit individually identifiable information PHI (electronic health record, used for scheduling, billing, recordkeeping). Health care providers, including mental health professionals, have specific responsibilities in safeguarding patients' confidential health information. They must consider unique permissions related to sharing mental health treatment information with family members and friends, and they are permitted to disclose protected mental health information when a person living with mental illness poses a danger to themselves or others.

A psychiatrist is likely covered by HIPAA unless they see cash-only clients in their office, who they schedule over the phone and keep paper records and write paper prescriptions for.

Also Business Associates, these can be an individual or a business that uses or discloses protected health information on behalf of, or provides services to a covered entity may themselves become a covered entity by association. The covered entity then has to enter into a business associate agreement (BAA) to share PHI with the third party.

Individually identifiable information (PHI) that relates to past, present or future physical or mental health or condition, the provision of health care, or payment for the health care services that can be linked to the individual or used to identify the individual will also be covered by HIPAA.

PHI could include appointments, scheduling information, electronic payments and all information and communication between the covered entity and the patient that supports a treatment plan, diagnosis or therapeutic relationship.

What are the Environmental and Technical Requirements of HIPAA for Protected Health Information?

Mental health professionals need to consider both environmental and technical requirements to comply with HIPAA. Protecting mental health information is crucial in both contexts to ensure patient privacy and confidentiality. Some of the environmental and technical requirements of HIPAA are below:

Environmental Privacy:

Having a private space during in-person sessions and communicating effectively during telehealth sessions are key to environmental privacy. Mental health providers must ensure patient information is not accessible to unauthorized individuals.

This is important for the integrity of the therapeutic process. It’s not just so clients feel comfortable to be vulnerable but also so the profession remains intact. This policy ensures people will continue to trust mental health professionals.

Technical Best Practices:

Using secure communication channels, encrypting electronic transmissions and implementing strong security measures are essential to protect ePHI. Professionals should stay up to date with technology and ensure their practices are HIPAA compliant.

As hard as it may be with technology advancing every day and how dependent we are on it, this can be tough. But mental health professionals must try to stay ahead of the game with any technology they use and make sure no information breaches happen.

Patient Rights and Informed Consent

HIPAA gives patients certain rights to their health information. Mental health professionals must inform patients of these rights, including the right to access their PHI, request corrections and understand how their information is used and disclosed. Obtaining informed consent for certain uses and disclosures is an important part of transparency and patient autonomy.

Mental health professionals may share information that is directly related to treatment with individuals involved in a person’s care under the following circumstances:

• If the client has agreed to it.

• If the client was given the opportunity to object and did not.

• If the client has indicated they are okay with sharing of this information by bringing a partner to treatment, having a parent schedule their sessions or pick up their medication, or involving family members in their care.

• If the client is unconscious, delirious, psychotic, intoxicated or otherwise unable to make decisions.

Ongoing Compliance: Audits and Reviews

HIPAA requires regular audits and risk assessments to evaluate the security measures and ensure ongoing compliance. Mental health professionals should see these as opportunities to improve, to reinforce their commitment to providing the best care while protecting patient information.

This is so the best tools for good outcomes are being used while sensitive information is also being protected.

What are some important HIPAA rules to know?

Here are the HIPAA rules mental health professionals should know, along with a brief description of how they apply to mental health:

1. Privacy Rule: Protects individually identifiable health information, aka Protected Health Information (PHI). This rule requires mental health professionals to use safeguards and sets limits and conditions on uses and disclosures of PHI without patient consent.

2. Security Rule: Provides administrative, physical and technical safeguards for mental health professionals to use to ensure confidentiality, integrity and security of ePHI (electronic PHI). This includes encryption, access controls and audit trails.

3. Breach Notification Rule: Requires covered entities and business associates to notify following a breach of unsecured PHI. Mental health professionals must notify affected individuals, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and in some cases the media of a breach of any unsecured PHI.

4. Enforcement Rule: Provides standards for enforcement of all the administrative simplification rules in HIPAA including penalties for non-compliance. Mental health professionals need to know the consequences of non-compliance including fines and legal action.

5. Omnibus Rule: Enacted to strengthen the privacy and security of health information under HIPAA. For mental health professionals this means you must get patient consent before using information for marketing and the privacy and security provisions of HIPAA apply to business associates.

6. Minimum Necessary: When using or disclosing PHI or requesting PHI from another covered entity mental health professionals must make reasonable efforts to limit PHI to the minimum necessary to accomplish the intended purpose.

These rules help keep patient info safe and allow mental health professionals to practice with ease. It’s not just about being legal, it’s about trusting your patients.

Why is HIPAA Important?

HIPAA has a special and important role for mental health professionals. Unlike standard training for healthcare providers, therapists in private practice face unique challenges in applying HIPAA’s broad requirements. Training becomes a personal journey for therapists, to navigate the complexities and figure out the best compliance strategies, especially when using technology like non-HIPAA compliant email.

Because of the unique challenges of HIPAA, mental health professionals must be resilient and adaptable and improvise according to the client’s unique needs.

One of the key aspects of HIPAA in mental health is that therapists are allowed to make decisions in the best interest of their clients. This becomes especially important when dealing with serious issues like suicide risk.

HIPAA allows therapists to share information with individuals or entities that can mitigate harm, whether it’s a partner, parent, doctor or emergency services. This flexibility is proof of the ethical responsibility mental health professionals have to their clients.

Another important part of HIPAA is the protection of psychotherapy notes, keeping a therapist’s personal notes on a client’s progress confidential. These notes when stored separately are private and do not have to be disclosed to insurance companies, parents or even the client themselves. This protects the therapist client relationship and creates an environment where people feel safe to seek mental health support.

In short, HIPAA is the framework that allows mental health professionals to make ethical decisions while putting the welfare and privacy of those they serve first.

Final thoughts

In summary, HIPAA, the Healthcare Information Portability and Accountability Act is key for mental health professionals, outlining the rules for privacy, security and ethics.

It not only protects sensitive health information but also allows professionals to make decisions in the best interest of their clients. HIPAA allows sharing of information for the benefit of the client, for issues like suicide risk.

HIPAA is about commitment to ethics, privacy and the sacred relationship between professionals and clients. HIPAA is more than compliance, it’s about patient centric care, adaptability and being committed to the welfare and privacy of those seeking mental health support.

Allia is a HIPAA compliant platform for mental health professionals that allows them to conduct telehealth meetings, generate notes and create detailed treatment plans using AI while ensuring the required safeguards are in place. Contact us for a quick demo!