Reader Questions: Know the Facts on Sharing Family Medical History
Question: When we inquire about patients’ family medical history, is that information protected by HIPAA? Can we share it with other providers?
AAPC Forum Participant
Answer: Yes, a patient’s family medical history constitutes protected health information (PHI).
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) says that a patient’s family medical history becomes PHI once it’s a part of the medical record.
“When a covered health care provider, in the course of treating an individual, collects or otherwise obtains an individual’s family medical history, this information becomes part of the individual’s medical record and...
To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement.
Keep pace with evolving Medicare regulations — and onboard your team — with timely analysis of critical updates interpreted in an easy-to-follow, easy-to-apply format. Your subscription to TCI's Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement Alert will equip you to navigate code and guideline changes, CCI edits, and revisions to modifiers, payer policies, the fee schedule, OIG target areas, and more.
Current newsletters added each month
Fully searchable archives - over 4200 articles
ALL years/issues back to 2003 organized by year and issue
Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
Code Information pages link back to related articles
Access to this feature is available in the following products: