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a. Court orders and court-ordered SSWs are issued by courts, grand juries, and <br /> administrative tribunals and signed by a judge or other judicial officer. <br /> b. Administrative requests are issued by a federal, state, or local administrative agency <br /> such as a department of health, a law enforcement agency, or other similar type of <br /> agency. Administrative agencies are permitted to issue "administrative" warrants, <br /> subpoenas, summonses or other similar type requests for information. These <br /> documents are likely to be signed by a high level official from the requesting <br /> administrative agency. <br /> c. Attorneys may issue subpoenas and discovery requests. These requests can usually <br /> be distinguished from other types of"official" court-ordered or administrative <br /> requests because they are signed by an attorney, not a judge,judicial officer or <br /> administrative official. <br /> When in doubt,the HIPAA Compliance Officer should solicit the assistance of legal <br /> counsel in determining what type of request was received. <br /> 4. Patient authorization is not required when releasing PHI pursuant to a request for PHI <br /> accompanied by legal process. However, patients may need to be notified about certain <br /> requests in accordance with this policy before PHI is released. <br /> 5. All disclosures of PHI pursuant to requests accompanied by legal process must be <br /> documented by the HIPAA Compliance Officer in North State Medical Transport's <br /> "Accounting Log for Disclosures of PHI" and a copy of the request shall be maintained <br /> with that log in the patient file, along with other information required by this policy. <br /> Responding to Court-Ordered Requests <br /> 1. If the HIPAA Compliance Officer determines that the request is a court order or a court- <br /> ordered SSW, the HIPAA Compliance Officer shall first verify that the request has been <br /> signed by a judge or other judicial officer of a court, grand jury, or administrative <br /> tribunal. If the request has not been signed by a judge or judicial officer, the HIPAA <br /> Compliance Officer shall send the requestor a letter stating that North State Medical <br /> Transport will not disclose any PHI until North State Medical Transport receives a court <br /> order or court-ordered SSW that is signed by the appropriate party. <br /> 2. If the request is signed by a judge or judicial officer, North State Medical Transport may <br /> disclose ONLY the information that is specifically requested by the court order or court- <br /> ordered SSW. For example,the HIPAA Compliance Officer should not simply turn over a <br /> copy of all records (including records relating to prior transports and billing records) if <br /> the request asks North State Medical Transport to "provide any treatment records <br /> about John Smith from April 15, 2013." However, if the request asks North State <br /> Medical Transport to provide "any and all records pertaining to John Smith,"then North <br />