Changes in mental health records (1791)

Key points below

HIPAA harmonization

What is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) set standards for health
information privacy rights. This Act says a person has a right to understand and have some
control over how their health information is used.

What is the HIPAA Harmonization Bill?

In 2014, Wisconsin passed the "HIPAA Harmonization Bill." This bill is also called the "Mental
Health Care Coordination Bill". One of the goals of this bill was to apply the rights of HIPAA to
the sharing of mental health records between providers.

At CW, information from each visit is kept in the patient’s electronic health record.
In the past CW providers were not able to view Children’s Hospital or Community
Services mental health records without a separate consent.
All CW providers and some providers outside of Children’s, can view their patient’s
mental health records. This will help us provide better care for our patients.
Children’s may share the patient’s mental health records with:
- The primary care doctor
- Treating health providers. This will help with treatment and care.
- Insurance companies. This may be needed for payment.
Patient mental health records will not be shared with anyone outside of your child’s
provider team without an authorization signed by a legal guardian. For example, a
signed authorization would be needed for mental health records to be shared with a
school.

Note: Be sure to let your CW providers know if you change your child’s primary doctor.

ALERT

Call your child’s doctor, nurse, or clinic if you have any questions or concerns or if your child has special health care needs that were not covered by this information.