The short answer is immediately as all new patients should receive Privacy and Disclosure notices on the first visit to a doctor's office, hospital, out-patient service, or whichever comes first. Usually a patient’s signature is required before seeing a physician, dentist, or other health professional. But the patient must be coherent when signing and must be allowed to keep a copy.
The Privacy Rule as part of the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is present to assure that a patient’s health information is properly protected while at the same time allowing the sufficient flow of health information needed to provide and promote high quality health care as well as protecting the general public's health and wellbeing.
The Rule attempts to strike a balance that permits important uses of information, while protecting the privacy of people who seek care and healing. It has to be flexible and administered at the start of treatment so as to allow it to cover the variety of uses and disclosures that need to be addressed, given that the health care marketplace is so diverse.
The Privacy Rule as part of the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is present to assure that a patient’s health information is properly protected while at the same time allowing the sufficient flow of health information needed to provide and promote high quality health care as well as protecting the general public's health and wellbeing.
The Rule attempts to strike a balance that permits important uses of information, while protecting the privacy of people who seek care and healing. It has to be flexible and administered at the start of treatment so as to allow it to cover the variety of uses and disclosures that need to be addressed, given that the health care marketplace is so diverse.
