This cartoon depicts something that happens far too often with HIPAA — HIPAA is used as an excuse not to do something (such as make disclosures or provide access to records in ways that patients request) even though HIPAA doesn’t have such a restriction. This is often done out of a lack of knowledge about HIPAA. Healthcare providers frequently have mistaken notions of HIPAA being far more restrictive than it actually is. For example, last year, I wrote a post about how numerous healthcare providers wrongly use HIPAA as an excuse to refuse to email medical records to patients. Ironically, instead of forbidding it, HIPAA actually requires that medical records be emailed to patients if patients so request.
For those who want an introduction to HIPAA and how the Privacy Rule and the Security Rule work, I produced a series of courses on HIPAA for the 