Senators call on HHS to remove decades-old privacy regulation

Thirteen U.S. senators sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar on March 5 to encourage him to initiate the modernization of 42 CFR Part 2, which protects the health records of substance abuse patients and was signed into law in 1975.

Unlike HIPAA, which allows providers to use their judgment in sharing information with family members and caregivers when patients are incapacitated, Part 2 requires facilities that receive federal funding to obtain patient consent before releasing any personal health information. According to the letter, the strict requirement of patient consent interferes with care coordination and can put patients in dangerous medical situations, as it creates silos of care.

The letter points out that in 2018, the House of Representatives passed legislation to modernize Part 2 with a bipartisan vote of 357–57. That proposal, H.R. 6082, the Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act, would align Part 2 with HIPAA for treatment, payment, and health care operations and strengthen protections against the use of such records in legal proceedings. The bill also enhanced penalties for breaches of a patient’s substance use record. The bill, however, has yet to move forward in the Senate.

U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) were the lead letter writers and were joined by a bipartisan group of 11 colleagues: Senators Whitehouse (D-RI), Cramer (R-ND), Klobuchar (D-MN), Cassidy (R-LA), Merkley (D-OR), Tillis (R-NC), Rounds (R-SD), Collins (R-ME), Feinstein (D-CA), Fischer (R-NE), and Harris (D-CA).