Can a past psychiatrist share information with your current psychiatrist?

Question

I've heard there's a HIPAA exception where health care providers can share information without the patient's consent for the purposes of treatment.

Does this mean my previous psychiatrist can share information with my current psychiatrist?

Answer 1

Does this mean my previous psychiatrist can share information with my current psychiatrist?

Yes.^1,2

There is an exception for 'psychotherapy notes', a term with a very specific meaning³ under HIPAA:

Psychotherapy notes means notes recorded (in any medium) by a health care provider who is a mental health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of conversation during a private counseling session or a group, joint, or family counseling session and that are separated from the rest of the individual's medical record. Psychotherapy notes excludes medication prescription and monitoring, counseling session start and stop times, the modalities and frequencies of treatment furnished, results of clinical tests, and any summary of the following items: Diagnosis, functional status, the treatment plan, symptoms, prognosis, and progress to date. (emphasis added)

If you had psychotherapy sessions with your previous psychiatrist, and he or she kept psychotherapy notes of each session, which are stored separately from other treatment records, you would need to sign a consent form to permit your previous psychiatrist to send copies of those psychotherapy notes to your new psychiatrist.

Footnotes

1. Uses and disclosures to carry out treatment, payment, or health care operations, C.F.R. § 164.506 (2017).

2. Office for Civil Rights, United States Department of Health and Human Services, Does a physician need a patient's written authorization to send a copy of the patient's medical record to a specialist or other health care provider who will treat the patient?, https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/271/does-a-physician-need-written-authorization-to-send-medical-records-to-a-specialist/index.html, last reviewed 26 Jul 2013, accessed 14 Jul 2017.

3. Definitions, C.F.R. § 164.501 (2017).