Privacy Issues in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment: Information Sharing Between Providers and Managed Care Organizations.

Confidentiality is a key element of mental health and substance abuse treatment. In the absence of assured confidentiality, many individuals with mental disorders or substance abuse problems may refuse or fail to seek treatment. As the payers of treatment, however, managed care organizations and insurance companies need to know the services for which payment is being requested and whether treatment is appropriate. These dual, but opposing, needs for confidentiality and disclosure have created tension between providers and payers. This report clarifies the sources of tension over what personal information should be shared for individuals receiving mental health or substance abuse treatment. It also provides information to support a more consistent application of privacy-sensitive approaches to collecting personal health information in the future.