Health systems can use PHI to contact former COVID-19 patients on blood, plasma donation without violating HIPAA: 3 details

The Office for Civil Rights at HHS issued guidance stating healthcare providers can contact former COVID-19 patients with information about plasma and blood donations on June 12.
Three things to know:

1. Patients who have recovered from COVID-19 can play a role in helping others recover in the future by donating their blood and plasma.

2. Healthcare providers can identify and contact patients that recovered from COVID-19 for population-based activities related to improving health, case management or care coordination without violating HIPAA, according to the guidance.

2. However, providers cannot receive payment from or on behalf of blood and plasma donation centers in exchange for communications with recovered patients without the patients' authorization.

"We're making sure misconceptions about HIPAA do not get in the way of a promising COVID-19 response," said OCR Director Roger Severino.

Read the full guidance here.

More articles on cybersecurity:
10 common reasons for HIPAA violations
Yale New Haven Health staff unnecessarily accessed COVID-19 data in medical records
Patients sue New York physician group's accounting firm over ransomware incident