Walden, Burgess commend HHS proposal to change substance use disorder confidentiality law

U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) and U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, applauded recently proposed changes by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) governing the confidentiality of patient records created by federally assisted substance use disorder treatment programs.

“Outdated federal substance use disorder (SUD) confidentiality law and regulations are actively interfering in the safe treatment of patients and we are pleased that the president has taken action to address this obstacle in our efforts to save people from opioid overdosing,” Reps. Walden and Burgess said in a joint statement released on Aug. 22.

The HHS proposal would reform the SUD confidentiality law known as 42 CFR Part 2 and support coordinated care among providers that treat SUD, while maintaining privacy safeguards for patients seeking SUD treatment, according to HHS.

“The emergence of the opioid crisis has created significant clinical and safety challenges for providers that has highlighted the need for thoughtful updates to 42 CFR Part 2 to enhance patient safety and increase care coordination for all providers involved in the treatment of SUD,” according to an Aug. 22 HHS statement.

Reps. Walden and Burgess said the proposal “builds on our efforts last Congress, when the House overwhelmingly passed the Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act,” which would have put the protection of SUD records under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), rather than under 42 CFR Part 2.

While the House-approved bill was not taken up in the U.S. Senate, the same-named bipartisan bill, H.R. 2062, was reintroduced this Congress on April 3 by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and to date has almost 55 cosponsors.

“This bipartisan bill strikes the right balance of permitting limited sharing of SUD treatment records within the health care community, while ensuring that individuals suffering from addiction can seek and receive treatment without fear of discrimination,” said Reps. Walden and Burgess.

While the lawmakers welcomed the HHS proposal, they noted that passing H.R. 2062 into law would be “the best way to fully and permanently ensure health care providers can effectively treat patients with substance use disorders.”