ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the need for thoughtful policies and procedures that help to protect patients’ right to privacy and confidentiality and manage their exceptions. It discusses strategies that are consistent with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as with professional guidelines. Practitioners need to consult their colleagues, professional associations, and health care attorneys in order to clarify clinical needs and applicable ethical standards, state and federal laws, and whether their policies and procedures appropriately implement them. The need for privacy in psychotherapy is even greater than in other types of health care services. Psychotherapists may help to protect their patients’ privacy by not calling them by their names in waiting rooms or other occupied areas. Employees and business associates who are covered by HIPAA must be subjected to pre-employment background checks in order to verify history of reliability and to receive security training.
