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Office of Civil Rights Issues HIPAA Guidance for Providers Responding to Hurricane Katrina
On Friday, September 2, 2005, The Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights issued a bulleting providing guidance on the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information to providers responding to Hurricane Katrina.
The bulletin does not provide any really new information, but reminds providers that they may use and disclose PHI to treat patients, that they may use and disclose for certain notification purposes, that they may use and disclose in order to prevent or lessen an imminent threat to the health and safety of an individual or the public, and that they may maintain a directory.
The complete document can be obtained by going to the Office of Civil Right’s website’s HIPAA page (www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa) and clicking on the Hurricane Katrina bulletin on the left hand side of the page under the “What’s New” heading.
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