Is the disclosure of patient identifiable information permitted by hospitals and physicians to ACS assistance programs?
A. ACS assistance programs obtain or receive varying amounts of information about a patient from hospitals and physicians. In most cases, hospitals and physicians provide patient information directly to ACS or refer the patient to ACS because they believe ACS assistance programs will be valuable to the patient and his or her family in dealing with their cancer experience. Under the Privacy Rule, the transfer of patient information to ACS assistance programs providing healthcare and related services is a “permitted” disclosure when done for treatment purposes. Hospitals and physicians are permitted to disclose protected health information to ACS assistance programs because the disclosure is for the treatment purposes of the hospital or physician and the ACS assistance program is providing healthcare and related services to the patient.
