A North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled that Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations can be used to demonstrate the standard of care in common law claims involving the privacy of medical information. According to an article published by the law firm Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP, the case alleged that the manager of a psychiatric practice used a patient’s medical records to reveal confidential information to third parties. The patient claimed that the physician owner was required to keep her medical records private under HIPAA. The trial court dismissed that claim, but an appellate court agreed with the patient that HIPAA could be used as evidence of the standard of care. Although not binding outside North Carolina, the article states that similar decisions “may become more common.”
