HIPAA and child welfare

A place to discuss the many medical issues that may come up during the course of a CPS case.

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Marina
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HIPAA and child welfare

Postby Marina » Sat Jan 09, 2010 9:34 am

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HIPAA and child welfare

http://forum.fightcps.com/viewtopic.php?t=8917

This subject came up when the Child Welfare Agency (CWA) asked for prescription information on a family member where a child is residing.

I searched the internet for HIPAA + child welfare

I searched again, including texas.

It is interesting that some states have a lot of information and other states, like texas, have nothing.

I will post a few links on here.

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Sat Jan 09, 2010 9:38 am

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http://www.pcsao.org/HIPAA/2.03HIPAA%20 ... elfare.pdf

Ohio

Strongly encourage local HIPAA assessment as to whether the local
agency is a Covered Entity

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Sat Jan 09, 2010 9:45 am

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http://www.pcsao.org/HIPAA/HIPAA%20Whit ... tronic.pdf

Ohio
page 3

Child Protection Intervention – HIPAA rules do not apply where the “provision of State law, including State procedures established under such law, as applicable, provides for ... conduct of public
health surveillance, investigation, or intervention.” Section 160.203(c).

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Sat Jan 09, 2010 9:49 am

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http://dss.sd.gov/hipaa/docs/PrivacyPractices.pdf

South Dakota

page 2
Disclosures to Family, Friends, and Others. The Department may disclose information to your family or other individuals involved in your medical care. You have the right to object to the sharing of this information.

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Marina
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Postby Marina » Sat Jan 09, 2010 9:58 am

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Covered and Hybrid entities
Team meetings


http://www.f2f.ca.gov/res/HIPPAandTDMs.pdf

page 2
This document is designed to provide a basic background to begin to evaluate
questions that arise for Family to Family sites regarding HIPAA, particularly in the
context of the team decision-making process. It is not intended to provide legal
advice regarding HIPAA compliance. Child welfare agencies, health providers
and other health organizations should consult with an attorney to evaluate their
specific situation and determine their specific obligations, if any, with respect to
HIPAA.

page 3

CAN A CHILD WELFARE AGENCY BE A COVERED ENTITY UNDER HIPAA?
YES. A Child Welfare Agency (CWA) may be a covered entity under HIPAA if
the agency functions as health care provider, health plan, or health
clearinghouse. A CWA commonly falls into one of these categories when: 1) the
CWA is part of a larger human services agency that functions as a health plan or
a health provider and does not declare itself as a “hybrid entity” under HIPAA;
or 2) the CWA directly provides health care services such as targeted case
management services that are billed to and paid for by Medicaid.
The HIPAA regulations permit an agency that performs both covered and noncovered
functions to elect to be a “hybrid entity”vi by designating in writing its
operations that perform covered functions as one or more “health care
components”.vii If the agency makes such a designation, only the health care
components will be subject to the HIPAA standards regarding privacy, security,
and data. If the agency fails to make the hybrid designation or designates itself
as a single legal entity, the entire agency is deemed to be subject to the HIPAA
standards.

...

Oregon
DHS has elected to designate itself
as a single covered entity under
HIPAA.

WASHINGTON COUNTY,
MINNESOTA has declared the
county as a hybrid entity under
HIPAA.

page 4

1. Does HIPAA prohibit the sharing of health information in a TDM
meeting?
NO. HIPAA does not provide absolute prohibitions on disclosure of health
information. HIPAA only applies to the sharing of health information by an
individual or entity covered by HIPAA. HIPAA does not prohibit redisclosure of
health information by TDM meeting participants who are not covered entities.
If the CWA or any other participant in a TDM meeting is a covered entity under
HIPAA, the privacy standards permit disclosure of health information with a
patient’s written authorizationix and under certain circumstances, permit
disclosure without a patient’s written authorization.
The privacy standards permit disclosures of health information without the
patient’s written consent under circumstances that clearly give the patient the
opportunity to agree, acquiesce, or object to the disclosure. This provision would
apply, for example, if a health care provider (or other HIPAA covered entity)
disclosed health information about a parent at a TDM meeting, with or without the
parent in attendance, if the parent has agreed to participate in the TDM process,
has been informed that the health information will be disclosed, and has been
given the opportunity to object to or restrict the disclosure.

page 5

2. Does HIPAA prohibit the CWA from sharing specific information about
reasons for removal that include protected health information (e.g. parent’s
substance abuse and/or mental illness) with resource caregivers?
NO. If the CWA is a covered entity, the privacy standards permit disclosure of
health information with a written patient authorization and even without written
authorization under certain circumstances. In addition to the circumstances
described above in question 1, disclosure of the reasons for removal when they
include protected health information may be authorized without written consent
by the privacy standards: 1) to carry out treatmentx, 2) when required by law xi, or
3) for safety reasons to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the
safety of a personxii. For example, a CWA may disclose to the caregiver that the
child was removed for reasons related to the parent’s mental illness if a state
statute, regulation or a court order requires caregivers to be provided with the
reasons for removal or if the parent’s mental illness poses an imminent and
serious threat to the caregiver or the child.

3. Does HIPAA require consent/permission from parents--separate from a
Court order--to validate participation in therapy, parenting classes,
etc…?
NO. If the health care provider is an entity covered by HIPAA, the provider may
disclose participation information pursuant to a court order. HIPAA permits the
disclosure of protected health information without the authorization of the
individual in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding in response to
a court or administrative order. xiii

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jwilson29
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 3:23 pm

Re: HIPAA and child welfare

Postby jwilson29 » Sat Oct 01, 2011 5:31 pm

When asked what medications you are on during initial eval you can say only doctor prescribed. If they say what ones you can say why do you ask or what does this have to do with why you have my children. If they keep asking keep saying only doctor prescribed. The only time you have to say is if you are drug tested by court order if it is not court ordered do not take it. And if they say why are you on it you can say its doctor prescribed and do not go into detail. Keep repeating yourself. I know they cant do a thing about those answers. They do not like intelligent educated people trust me. I know personally.

JonathansRock
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:43 am

Re: HIPAA and child welfare

Postby JonathansRock » Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:40 am

The Hospital divulged MY health information that had nothing to do with my child. They told the CPS worker I didn't receive a RHOGAM during pregnancy but that I did after(AFTER has NOTHING to do with "affecting" him in any way health wise so what was the point in divulging this specific FACT of MY health information I did not sign for any of MY records or his--I am not in custody of the state/welfare agency to be read or divulged to CPS even though I was on medicaid) the baby was born(this information was used against me in court-rhogam is a blood product and could possibly be contaminated so how do I have to be FORCED to take a blood product to begin with or subject my unborn child and myself to possible disease contamination twice?). I also refused the vitamin K shot at his birth as I didn't get one with my 2 year old at birth because of a loophole birth plan written and presented before admission to hospital(I tried to present it this time and the same hospital not in my county of residence rejected it because they might have been notified ahead of time and were helping CPS to gather "evidence" to take my youngest baby like they did my last 4 children through hearsay and no evidence "witnesses" except their PAID PROFESSIONALS). They have involved me for the past 2 years in their "program" and gave legal custody of my other children to someone who used to be a "christian friend" who turned on me and took my kids when they said they were there to help me with the kids when I was going through a few months of hard time worried about losing my kids to CPS and fighting for my kids alone when he had to leave because I heard horror stories about them taking kids- then my abusive ex(husband) went back to his native country and is denied entry to US because he overstayed the visa waiver program by over a year. I went to his country to marry after he left for political reasons hoping his country would help at least legally to get the son we had together. They haven't in over a year so I am divorcing him. My fiance and I are not legally married as recognized by this STATE and its fellow corporate entities so therefore they "say" that entitles them to an emergency court order for removal of our child from a hospital in a county an hour away for not receiving 2 vaccines as being the reason. Any advice anyone? I am still within the 90 day time frame to appeal my other 4 childrens' legal custody status of "old" friends. How do I fight these 2 cases simultaneously? I am a loving mother whom is hurting because my other four children have been mentally and emotionally affected by the whole ordeal over the past 2 years and now my newest baby will also. I grew up in the system, got adopted (and molested and abused growing up) and put back in system at 13 for revealing abuse to health care professionals and found my biological mother 9 years ago(we have a good relationship). The system has never left me alone since day one.. I just want to be able to love my children as I always have and be a family and bring them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.


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