1. Confidentiality and HIPAA For Mentors

2. Basic confidentiality requirement for Mentors It is expected that all Mentors having access to client and personnel information will consistently and uniformly maintain the privacy and confidentiality of this information.

3. What you can and cannot share You cannot share, a child’s diagnosis, or information about his/her family You cannot share any written material you may have about the child or family with whom you are working. You can share observable behaviors and the types of interventions that you have found works well for a particular child.

4. Sharing continued You can share the name and phone number of Beech Acres Parenting Center staff when a person wants additional information about a child or parent. Do share, in emergencies, basic identifying information about a child or family

5. Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) When you think HIPAA think privacy and confidentiality!

6. HIPAA continued You may have heard about HIPAA. It is the Federal law that keeps your health care information confidential. It is also the law that protects the confidentiality of the families and children with whom you work. Be very careful what you share about a child or his family.

7. HIPAA continued Remember what you can and cannot share as noted previously in this presentation. The Federal Office of Civil Rights enforces confidentiality under HIPAA. You, as an individual, can be fined by the Office of Civil Rights if you are found violating someone’s confidentiality under HIPAA

8. What information is confidential under HIPAA? Any information - oral or recorded in any form or medium that is; created or received by a provider, health plan, public health authority, employer, life insurer, school or university or healthcare clearinghouse and; Relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of an individual…

9. Teach parents to maintain and communicate information about their child It is better that you coach parents as to how they might share the information about their child. If a parent asks for a record put them in touch with a staff person at Beech Acres Parenting Center.

10. What rights does a parent have under HIPAA? They can obtain a copy of their child’s record They can look at their child’s record They can request that information they believe is not correct, be corrected in their child’s record They may add information they believe to be missing from their child’s record They may ask that certain information not be shared.

11. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

12. FERPA HIPAA provides more confidentiality for a child’s mental health records than does FERPA.