An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 10 - Privacy Rights Of Students And Employees

alcohol treatment program, and when the employee refused, his employment was terminated. The employee brought suit alleging a violation of CMIA and invasion of right to privacy. The court found for the employee against both the physicians and employer. A physician may only disclose the functional limitations of the employee. The employer also violated the CMIA by acting on the improperly obtained medical information. The physicians and employer also invaded the employee’s reasonable expectation of privacy, without a compelling interest to justify such intrusion.

C. H EALTH I NSURANCE P ORTABILITY A ND A CCOUNTABILITY A CT The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Title 42 United States Code section 1301 et seq ., imposes numerous requirements on covered entities. The primary thrust of HIPAA’s privacy regulations is directed at hospitals, doctors, medical clinics, health plans and health insurers conducting certain health care transactions electronically. 1730 However, under some circumstances, schools may be subject to the Rule’s requirements as well. 1. H EALTH P LANS Health plans covered by HIPAA’s Privacy Rule include individual or group plans that provide or pay the cost of medical care. They may be private entities such as health insurers and managed care organizations, or government organizations such as Medicaid, Medicare, and the Veterans Health Administration. 1731 However, they also include self-administered flexible spending accounts and cafeteria plans if they have 50 or more participants. 2. H EALTH C ARE P ROVIDERS Health care providers covered by HIPAA’s Privacy Rule are individuals or organizations such as physicians, hospitals, or clinics that provide, bill, or are paid for health care, in the normal course of business, and transmit health information electronically in connection with a health care transaction. 1732 HIPAA covered transactions include: health claims and benefit eligibility inquiries and responses, and referral authorization requests and responses. 1733 School nurses may

qualify as a health care provider. LCW Practice Advisor

As a general matter, private schools are not covered entitles under HIPAA. Due to widespread confusion regarding the applicability of HIPAA to schools, the federal Department of Health and Human Services provided guidance which can be accessed at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/ coveredentities/hipaaferpajointguide.pdf: Though the guidance is specific to public schools, the general issues and overlap between medical records and pupil records may be applicable to private schools.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 387