SAMHSA Updates 42 CFR Rules, Addiction Treatment Records Still Regulated Under Different Standards

On January 18, 2017, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) proposed clarifications to final regulations governing confidentiality for addiction treatment records. The final rule eases some of the restrictions in sharing data, but still does not allow addiction treatment data to be shared in the same way as other consumer health data. Addiction treatment privacy protections are still more restrictive those of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The clarifications concern the provisions of Section 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 2, Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Record. SAMHSA issued the . . .