In this letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, MACPAC comments on a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration rule proposing changes to 42 CFR Part 2 (Part 2), the regulation that governs confidentiality of records for patients with substance use disorders (SUD).
Although the Commission observes that the proposed changes to Part 2 represent modest improvements in patients and providers’ ability to share information, the Commission notes that they still do not address concerns that MACPAC expressed in its June 2018 report to Congress regarding the confusion that these confidentiality requirements have generated, which may in turn create barriers to coordinated care.
MACPAC supports proposed changes which would allow opioid treatment programs to disclose dispensing and prescribing data to prescription drug monitoring programs, subject to patient consent. Moreover, the Commission appreciates the Administration’s proposal to allow patients to consent to disclosure of Part 2 protected information to organizations with which they do not have a treating provider relationship with. These important changes will improve care coordination for individuals with an SUD.