Memo to Ombudsmen

Dear State Ombudsmen: 

FYI, the following announcement appeared on Feb. 19, 2003 in HIPAA Wire, an electronic newsletter put out by Medical Newswire.  AoA is writing to the nursing home associations and will seek other avenues to inform the nursing home industry that HIPAA permits facilities to release resident and other information to ombudsmen.  Please help in any way you can to get the word around to the facilities in your state. Thanks. 
Sue Wheaton, AoA Ombudsman Program Specialist

The HIPAA Privacy Rule and Access to Information by the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program

(HIPAA Wire) On February 4, 2003, the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) issued an information memorandum clarifying the effect of the HIPAA Privacy Rule on access to residents' records and other information by representatives of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) under the Older Americans Act.

The memorandum states that the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights, the Federal agency that administers the Privacy Rule, concurs with AoA's determination that since ombudsman programs have oversight responsibilities authorized for a component of the health care system, they are health oversight agencies, as defined in the Privacy Rule.

Therefore, the Privacy Rule does not preclude release of residents' clinical records to the LTCOP, with or without authorization of the resident or resident's representative. Also, nursing homes and other "covered entities" may, in response to appropriate ombudsman inquiries, share other information without fear of violating the Privacy Rule. The memorandum also addresses access to residents' files by residents and their representatives.

The memorandum is available on AoA's website home page: www.aoa.gov

N.B. The memorandum is also available here on the NORC website