Reporters Committee offers guidance for journalists on dealing with HIPAA when reporting on covid-19 cases

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press chart; click the image to enlarge it.

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act guarantees Americans the right to keep their medical records private. Reporters must be mindful of this when writing about covid-19 cases, but it is sometimes difficult to know the scope of the law. That gets even more confusing when public officials or private health-care providers incorrectly assert that HIPAA prevents them from releasing certain information.

"HIPAA’s applicability and scope are often misunderstood, resulting in the public being deprived of important information about the pandemic, including state and local governments’ preparedness and responses," Adam Marshall and Gunita Singh write for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "Reporters, government agencies, and private entities should be aware of both the limited scope of the Privacy Rule and its exceptions that may allow — or require — information related to COVID-19 to be released."

Marshall and Singh have created a handy guide, including a flow chart, to help reporters better understand HIPAA. Read more here.