Articles and Blogs

On December 14, 2020, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (“SAMHSA”) published a final rule amending the Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records regulations at 42 CFR part 2 (“Part 2”), effective January 13, 2021 (“Final Rule”). This Final Rule clarifies when a court can authorize disclosures of confidential communications made... READ MORE

Residential treatment facilities that provide substance use disorder (“SUD”) or other sensitive health services, such as mental health, behavioral health or developmental disability diagnosis and treatment, are again faced with a dilemma this year: do they provide patient information to the U.S. Census Bureau (the “Bureau”) enumerators to comply with the 2020 Census group... READ MORE

Wednesday, May 13 Recap Note – ​We believe this is the most up-to-date information available at this time, but it is subject to change ​as circumstances warrant. Also, all finalized resources can be found ​on the COVID-19 ​Resource ​Center page ​of Hall Render’s website.​ CMS Launches Toolkit on State Actions to Mitigate COVID-19 in Nursing Homes... READ MORE

Recently, the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) into law. Among many changes is a significant modification to the federal confidentiality protections currently afforded substance use disorder (“SUD”) records pursuant to the Public Health Services Act at 42 U.S.C. 290dd-2 (“PHS Act”). Most notable, the amendments to the... READ MORE

When it comes to behavioral health, which is hugely important in the current era of the opioid crisis and the renewed—and much needed—focus on expanded access to care, Hall Render knows the territory. For example, a few of our more recent behavioral health articles covered updated guidance issued by SAMHSA (those articles can be... READ MORE

On August 26, 2019, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (“SAMHSA”) issued two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) proposing changes to the Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records at Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 2 (“Part 2”). Part 2 is a federal privacy law that protects substance... READ MORE