Mary K. Martin – Legal & Ethical Issues in Behavioral Health in Minnesota

Legal & Ethical Issues in Behavioral Health in Minnesota – Mary K. Martin

• The Most Current Minnesota Laws & Regulations
• Confidentiality of Records
• Duty to Warn
• Professional Ethics and Boundary Issues
• Avoid Licensure Issues

Without the proper legal awareness needed to stay in compliance, you may face grave legal and financial consequences. This seminar will show you how to continue to help the people you’ve been trained to help while still protecting yourself from many legal pitfalls. If you watch only one seminar this year, make it this one. Join attorney Mary K. Martin for an entertaining and enlightening day and leave with a greater understanding of the latest Minnesota laws as they relate to behavioral health. You will take home practical strategies to minimize and manage legal and ethical risks and you will learn how to immediately implement these risk reducing strategies into your practice.

• Compare and contrast the privacy requirements of HIPAA, the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and the Minnesota Health Records Act as they apply to behavioral health records in Minnesota.
• Discuss who can consent to mental health treatment for a minor child.
• Review who can see the mental health treatment records of a minor child.
• Demonstrate how to analyze a subpoena and how to respond to a subpoena.
• Identify how to respond to other kinds of requests for patient information.
• Explain enforcement actions under HIPAA, the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and the Minnesota Health Records Act related to behavioral health.
• Outline the steps that are necessary if you discover a breach under HIPAA, the Data Practices Act and the Minnesota Health Records Act.

Confidentiality of Mental Health Records

• Three Minnesota laws that might apply to your records
  • HIPAA
  • The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act
  • The Minnesota Health Records Act
• Similarities and differences in the laws
• Particular ways that the state laws are more restrictive than HIPAA

Consent to Mental Health Treatment of Minors

• Who can authorize treatment for a child?

Release of Mental Health Records of Minors

• Who can see a child’s mental health records?
• When should a child’s records not be released to a parent?
• The rights of unmarried parents, divorced parents, guardians, and parents whose parental rights have been terminated

Respond to Subpoenas and Requests for Information from Law Enforcement

• What about requests from others for information about clients?
• When a response is required and when it is not
• Techniques for analyzing and responding to subpoenas

Behavioral Health HIPAA Enforcement Actions

• Overview to date
• HIPAA HI-TECH notification requirements
• Enforcement under the Data Practices Act and the Minnesota Health Records Act