The Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS or "the Department'') is issuing this final rule to
modify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
Privacy Rule to expressly permit certain HIPAA covered entities to disclose to
the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) the identities of
individuals who are subject to a Federal "mental health prohibitor'' that
disqualifies them from shipping, transporting, possessing, or receiving a
firearm.
The NICS is a national system maintained by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) to conduct background checks on persons who may be
disqualified from receiving firearms based on Federally prohibited categories
or State law. Among the persons subject to the Federal mental health prohibitor
established under the Gun Control Act of 1968 and implementing regulations
issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) are individuals who have been
involuntarily committed to a mental institution; found incompetent to stand
trial or not guilty by reason of insanity; or otherwise have been determined by
a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority to be a danger to
themselves or others or to lack the mental capacity to contract or manage their
own affairs, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence or mental illness,
incompetency, condition, or disease.
Under this final rule, only covered
entities with lawful authority to make the adjudications or commitment
decisions that make individuals subject to the Federal mental health
prohibitor, or that serve as repositories of information for NICS reporting
purposes, are permitted to disclose the information needed for these purposes.
The disclosure is restricted to limited demographic and certain other
information needed for NICS purposes.
The rule specifically prohibits the
disclosure of diagnostic or clinical information, from medical records or other
sources, and any mental health information beyond the indication that the
individual is subject to the Federal mental health prohibitor.
Full article at: https://goo.gl/m3fQkS
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv insight
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