228.5 Administrative disclosures.

1. An individual or an individual’s legal representative shall be informed that mental health information relating to the individual may be disclosed to employees or agents of or for the same mental health facility or to other providers of professional services or their employees or agents if and to the extent necessary to facilitate the provision of administrative and professional services to the individual.

2. a. If an individual eighteen years of age or older or an individual’s legal representative has received a written notification that a fee is due a mental health professional or a mental health facility and has failed to arrange for payment of the fee within a reasonable time after the notification, the mental health professional or mental health facility may disclose administrative information necessary for the collection of the fee to a person or agency providing collection services.

b. If a civil action is filed for the collection of the fee, additional mental health information shall not be disclosed in the litigation, except to the extent necessary to respond to a motion of the individual or the individual’s legal representative for greater specificity or to dispute a defense or counterclaim.

3. A mental health professional or an employee of or agent for a mental health facility may disclose mental health information if necessary for the purpose of conducting scientific and data research, management audits, or program evaluations of the mental health professional or mental health facility, to persons who have demonstrated and provided written assurances of their ability to ensure compliance with the requirements of this chapter. The persons shall not identify, directly or indirectly, an individual in any report of the research, audits, or evaluations, or otherwise disclose individual identities in any manner. A disclosure under this section is not subject to the requirements of section 228.2, subsection 2, with the exception that a person receiving mental health information under this section shall be provided a statement prohibiting redisclosure of information unless otherwise authorized by this chapter.

4. Mental health information relating to an individual may be disclosed to other providers of professional services or their employees or agents if and to the extent necessary to facilitate the provision of administrative and professional services to the individual.

86 Acts, ch 1082, §5; 88 Acts, ch 1226, §8; 96 Acts, ch 1213, §33, 34; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §263

Referred to in §228.2