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VIDEO: Revisions to SAMHSA confidentiality regulation may improve patient experience, care efficiency

LAS VEGAS — In this video, Joe Parks, PhD, medical director at the National Council for Behavioral Health, discusses pros and cons of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration proposed revisions to 42 CFR part 2.

42 CFR requires time limited consent, specific consents, does not allow re-disclosure and requires specific release to an individual.

“The regulations have not been updated since 1987,” Parks told Healio.com/Psychiatry. “The good news is that SAMHSA is taking comments and considering changing them. They've put out proposed rules that move forward in some areas that are helpful. They standardized definitions, talked about how this information can be used on information exchanges, how you can use contract organizations to help you do business and still give them some of the information about substance abuse treatment. But they don’t go far enough.”