NOTE: This manual will be updated when the revised federal privacy regulations are published. HHS had expected them to be published by March 2012, but they are not available. We are hoping for a Summer 2012 release of the new edition.

Significant requirements have been imposed on hospitals and other health facilities with the passage of federal and state laws regulating the privacy, security, use and disclosure of health information. The California Health Information Privacy Manual was written to help hospitals understand and comply with these increasingly complex laws.

This valuable publication addresses privacy requirements under the new federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, the California Patient Access to Health Records Act, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, and other California state laws.

To assist providers in determining which law provides greater patient protection and therefore preempts the other, the manual includes a one-of-a-kind preemption analysis chart that compares California laws to the federal HIPAA regulations.

445 pages (4th edition, 2009)

Contents

• Understand the Laws
• Administrative Processes and Considerations
• Privacy Rights and Notice of Privacy Practices
• Use and Disclosure of Protected Health Information
  • Fundamentals and Preemption Analysis
  • General Patient
  • Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities
  • Substance Abuse
• Privacy and the Conduct of Research
• Employee Health Information
• Health Information Security
• Business Associate Contracts
• Breaches
• Enforcement and Penalties

Written by

The California Hospital Association and Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP