Our uses and disclosures
We typically use or share your health information in the following ways. We will follow HIPAA, Minnesota law, and any other law that applies. When a law requires your consent, authorization, an attestation, a court order, a subpoena, or another condition before we may disclose information, we will follow that requirement.
Treat you
We can use your health information and share it with doctors, nurses, technicians, students, trainees, and other professionals who are involved in your care. For example, a CMH provider may review your history, lab results, x-rays, medications, prior procedures, or specialty reports to provide or coordinate your care. We may also share information with another provider involved in your care as permitted by law.
Run our organization
We can use and share your health information to run CMH, improve your care, evaluate quality and safety, train staff, manage risk, support accreditation and licensing activities, and contact you when necessary. For example, we may review records to evaluate staff performance, improve services, or support clinical documentation and coding quality.
Bill for your services
We can use and share your health information to bill and receive payment from you, your health plan, or another responsible payer. For example, we may give information about your treatment to your insurance plan so it will pay for your services, obtain prior authorization, review medical necessity, or support a claim review or appeal.
Appointment reminders and care-related communications
We may use your information to contact you about appointments, test results, treatment options, care coordination, prescriptions, refill reminders, health screenings, patient portal information, or other health-related services that may be of interest to you. If a communication requires your authorization because CMH receives financial remuneration for making it, we will obtain your authorization when required.
Business associates
We may share your information with vendors and other business associates who perform services for CMH, such as information technology, billing, legal, audit, accreditation, quality, record copying, transcription, or consulting services. We require business associates to safeguard your information and use or disclose it only as permitted by law and their agreement with CMH.
Health information exchange, patient portal, and record locator services
CMH may participate in health information exchanges, electronic record-sharing tools, patient portals, or record locator services to support care coordination and access to information. Where Minnesota law or another law gives you a consent, opt-out, or exclusion right, CMH will honor that right. Ask CMH how to exercise any available portal, exchange, or record locator choices.
Public health and safety
- We can share health information for public health activities, such as preventing or controlling disease, reporting births and deaths, reporting suspected abuse or neglect, reporting adverse reactions to medications or problems with products, helping with product recalls, notifying people who may have been exposed to a disease, and preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety.
Research
We may use or share your information for health research when permitted by law, such as when you give written authorization or when an Institutional Review Board or Privacy Board has approved protections for the research. In some cases, researchers may use limited information to prepare for research or determine whether a study may be appropriate.
Comply with the law
We will share information about you when state or federal law requires it, including with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services if it asks to see that we are complying with federal privacy law. Minnesota law may require additional consent, documentation, or limits on certain disclosures of health records, and CMH will follow those requirements.
Organ and tissue donation
We may share health information with organ procurement organizations, tissue banks, or eye banks as necessary to facilitate organ, eye, or tissue donation and transplantation.
Medical examiners, coroners, and funeral directors
We may share health information with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when an individual dies, as permitted or required by law. This may be necessary to identify a deceased person, determine cause of death, or allow the funeral director to carry out duties.
Workers’ compensation, health oversight, and government requests
- We may use or share health information for workers’ compensation claims or similar programs.
- We may share information with health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law, such as audits, investigations, inspections, licensure, accreditation, and civil rights compliance.
- We may share information for special government functions, such as military, national security, presidential protective services, and correctional institution purposes, only as permitted or required by law.
Law enforcement and legal actions
We may share health information for law enforcement purposes, in response to a valid court or administrative order, subpoena, warrant, or other legal process, or as otherwise permitted or required by law. Minnesota law may require patient consent, a court order, warrant, or specific authorization in Minnesota law for certain releases. CMH will review these requests before releasing information.
Substance use disorder patient records
To the extent CMH creates, receives, or maintains substance use disorder patient records that are subject to 42 CFR Part 2, CMH will handle those records according to Part 2 and HIPAA. If CMH receives or maintains Part 2 records under a general consent that permits use and disclosure for treatment, payment, or health care operations, CMH may use and disclose those records for those purposes as described in this Notice. If CMH receives or maintains Part 2 records under a specific consent, CMH will use and disclose those records only as permitted by that consent and applicable law.
CMH will not use or disclose Part 2 records, or testimony describing information in those records, in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceedings by a federal, state, or local authority against you unless authorized by your written consent or a court order and subpoena as required by law.
Information with additional protections
Certain information may have additional protections under federal or state law, including but not limited to mental health information, psychotherapy notes, substance use disorder treatment records, HIV/AIDS-related information, genetic information, records related to care a minor may consent to on their own, and other specially protected information. CMH will follow the law that applies to that information.
