| receipt
of Notice of Privacy Practices (HIPAA)
HIPAA's Privacy
Rule requires that providers with a direct
treatment relationship make a good faith effort to obtain
an individual's written acknowledgment of receipt of the Notice
of Privacy Practices.
Other types of
covered entities are not required to obtain this acknowledgment
from individuals, but can do so if they choose.
The receipt-of-notice
acknowledgment is intended to create the "initial moment"
between a provider and an individual, formerly expected to
result from the (now optional) consent
process, during which individuals may focus on information
practices and privacy rights, and discuss any concerns with
the provider.
It can also afford
an opportunity for an individual to make a request for additional
restrictions on the use or disclosure of his or her PHI,
or ask for additional confidential
treatment of communications.
DHHS has taken
the position that "[n]othing relieve[s] a covered entity
of its duty to provide the entire Notice in plain language
so the average reader can understand it." Nonetheless,
this is only an acknowledgment that the patient has received
the Notice, not that he or she has read or understood it.
The acknowledgment
must be in writing. If the good faith effort fails to obtain
an acknowledgment (e.g., the patient refuses to sign), the
reason(s) why must also be documented in writing. Note that
the attempt to obtain an acknowledgment can be delayed in
emergency treatment situations until "reasonably practicable."
Beyond that, the
regulations do not prescribe the form or content of the acknowledgment,
or the process by which it is obtained. DHHS has provided
several examples, as a guide to what is (or is not) allowed:
- Where a health
care provider's initial contact with the patient is simply
to schedule an appointment, the Notice provision and acknowledgment
requirements may be satisfied at the time the individual
arrives at the provider's facility for his or her appointment.
- A health care
provider whose first treatment encounter with a patient
is over the phone satisfies the requirements by mailing
the Notice to the individual no later than the day of that
service delivery. To satisfy the requirement that the provider
also make a good faith effort to obtain the individual's
acknowledgment of the Notice, the provider may include a
tear-off sheet or other document with the Notice that requests
the acknowledgment be mailed back to the provider.
- If the first
service delivery to an individual is delivered electronically,
the health care provider must provide an electronic Notice
automatically and contemporaneously in response to the individual’s
first request for service. The system must be capable of
capturing the individual's acknowledgment of receipt electronically.
- A health provider
is permitted to have the individual sign a separate sheet
or list, or to simply initial a cover sheet of the Notice
to be retained by the provider. Alternatively, a provider
is permitted to have the individual sign or initial an acknowledgment
within a log book.
The provider is
not required to obtain a new acknowledgment when the Notice
is revised and made available in its new form.
The acknowledgment
of receipt of the Notice is required regardless of whether
a direct treatment provider chooses to have a signed consent.
See also:
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