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2011 Colorado Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2011)

handle is hein.sag/sagco0079 and id is 1 raw text is: JOHN W. SUTttERS STATE OF COLORADO Attorney General STATE SERVICES BUILDING DEPARTMENT OF LAW 1525 Sherman Street - 7th Floor CYNTHIA H. COFFMAN Denver Colorado 80203 Chief Deputy Attorney General OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Phone (303) 866-4500 DANIEL D. DOMENICO Solicitor General FORMAL ) OPINION ) No. 11-02 ) OF ) AG Alpha No. HS SH AGBDJ ) JOHN W. SUTHERS ) March 24, 2011 Attorney General ) Ken Cole, Director, Mental Health Institutes, Colorado Department of Human Services, Office of Behavioral Health and Housing, requested an opinion from this office concerning the extent to which federal law allows the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo (the Institute) to notify outside authorities, including media and public schools, when forensic patients escape or when civil patients elope, and to what extent the Institute can provide current threat assessments when patients escape or elope. QUESTIONS PRESENTED AND CONCLUSIONS Question 1: To what extent does federal law allow the Institute to notify outside authorities, including the media and public schools, when forensic patients escape and when civil patients elope? Answer 1: State and federal law must be read together to determine when the Institute may notify outside authorities, including the media, public schools and law enforcement, that a civil or forensic patient has eloped or escaped. The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), sets a minimum level of individual protection against disclosure of personally identifiable health information by covered entities. State law adds to these protections, but also contains mandatory reporting requirements that are consistent with the requirements of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Question 2: To what extent does federal law allow the Institute to provide current threat assessments when forensic and civil patients escape or elope?

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