Julie Fleet Bilsky, LCSW
Confidentiality/Hipaa
The law protects the confidentiality of all communications between a client and psychotherapist. No information is disclosed without prior written permission from the client. However, there are some exceptions required by law to this rule.
Exceptions include safety: If a person is a danger to themselves or others; If a person believes they are in danger by another.
Suspected child abuse or Dependent adult or elder abuse. The therapist is required to report this to the appropriate authorities immediately.
If a client is threatening serious bodily harm to another person. The therapist is required to notify the police.
If a client intends to harm himself or herself. The therapist will make every effort to work with the individual to ensure their safety. However, if an individual does not cooperate, additional measures may need to be taken.
Does HIPAA provide extra protections for mental health information compared with other health information?
Does HIPAA provide extra protections for mental health information compared with other health information?
Generally, the Privacy Rule applies uniformly to all protected health information, without regard to the type of
information. One exception to this general rule is for psychotherapy notes, which receive special protections.
The Privacy Rule defines psychotherapy notes as notes recorded by a health care provider who is a mental
health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of a conversation during a private counseling
session or a group, joint, or family counseling session and that are separate from the rest of the patient’s
medical record. Psychotherapy notes do not include any information about medication prescription and
monitoring, counseling session start and stop times, the modalities and frequencies of treatment furnished, or
results of clinical tests; nor do they include summaries of diagnosis, functional status, treatment plan,
symptoms, prognosis, and progress to date. Psychotherapy notes also do not include any information that is
maintained in a patient’s medical record. See 45 CFR 164.501.
Psychotherapy notes are treated differently from other mental health information both because they contain
particularly sensitive information and because they are the personal notes of the therapist that typically are not
required or useful for treatment, payment, or health care operations purposes, other than by the mental health
professional who created the notes. Therefore, with few exceptions, the Privacy Rule requires a covered entity
to obtain a patient’s authorization prior to a disclosure of psychotherapy notes for any reason, including a
disclosure for treatment purposes to a health care provider other than the originator of the notes. See 45 CFR
164.508(a)(2). A notable exception exists for disclosures required by other law, such as for mandatory
reporting of abuse, and mandatory “duty to warn” situations regarding threats of serious and imminent harm
made by the patient (State laws vary as to whether such a warning is mandatory or permissible).
Generally, the Privacy Rule applies uniformly to all protected health information, without regard to the type of
information. One exception to this general rule is for psychotherapy notes, which receive special protections.
The Privacy Rule defines psychotherapy notes as notes recorded by a health care provider who is a mental
health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of a conversation during a private counseling
session or a group, joint, or family counseling session and that are separate from the rest of the patient’s
medical record. Psychotherapy notes do not include any information about medication prescription and
monitoring, counseling session start and stop times, the modalities and frequencies of treatment furnished, or
results of clinical tests; nor do they include summaries of diagnosis, functional status, treatment plan,
symptoms, prognosis, and progress to date. Psychotherapy notes also do not include any information that is
maintained in a patient’s medical record. See 45 CFR 164.501.
Psychotherapy notes are treated differently from other mental health information both because they contain
particularly sensitive information and because they are the personal notes of the therapist that typically are not
required or useful for treatment, payment, or health care operations purposes, other than by the mental health
professional who created the notes. Therefore, with few exceptions, the Privacy Rule requires a covered entity
to obtain a patient’s authorization prior to a disclosure of psychotherapy notes for any reason, including a
disclosure for treatment purposes to a health care provider other than the originator of the notes. See 45 CFR
164.508(a)(2). A notable exception exists for disclosures required by other law, such as for mandatory
reporting of abuse, and mandatory “duty to warn” situations regarding threats of serious and imminent harm
made by the patient (State laws vary as to whether such a warning is mandatory or permissible).