Health Information Compliance Alert

Published on Fri May 11, 2007 PDF

Read the question below and decide how you would handle it before you compare it to our expert's advice.

Question: Are telemarketing companies ever permitted to access a patient's personal health information and use it to sell products to that patient?  

Answer: Yes and no.  According to the Department of Health and Human Services, covered entities can indeed disclose a patient's PHI to telemarketers, but only in the following two circumstances:

• The patient has given prior consent.

• The covered entity has entered into a business associate relationship with the telemarketer--and, in this case, PHI can only be used for communications that are not marketing, e.g. communications about that covered entity's own goods or services.