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General Surgery Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Keep Family History HIPAA Compliant

Published on Wed Oct 18, 2023

Question: When our surgeon gets a referral for a procedure, the referring physician sometimes includes information about the patient’s family medical history. Is that information protected by HIPAA? Is it ok for physicians to share that information? AAPC Subscriber Answer: Yes, a patient’s family medical history constitutes protected health information (PHI). The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) says that [...]
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