Changes to Adolescent Privacy Policy
Cincinnati Children’s is adjusting policies pertaining to adolescent privacy beginning Sept 15, 2023. Historically, families have accessed their clinical information through different mechanisms including MyChart, Health Information Exchanges (HIE) with other healthcare portals, and the Medical Records Release of Information (ROI). We are aligning policies and procedures across these platforms to expand protections for adolescent privacy.
At Cincinnati Children’s, we believe that parents should have as much access to the medical information of their children as possible. For adolescents aged 13-17, only when information sharing with the guardian/caregiver is determined to have an adverse effect on the patient or the therapeutic relationship, the minimum necessary medical information will be held in confidence.
With this change, adolescents will be asked if the sensitive information they are sharing should be treated confidentially. When adolescents express a desire for confidentiality, confidential information will not be shared through MyChart, HIE, or Medical Records with the parent/caregiver. Any non-confidential information will be shared.
Parents will be notified that a portion of the adolescent’s medical information is not being shared. Should the family seek the withheld information, they can file a request through Cincinnati Children’s Medical Records for review. During the Review Process, Ohio law (ORC 3701.74) states that Cincinnati Children’s must turn over the documentation to a provider named by the family for additional review if requested. It is possible that the family would choose their PCP to receive the medical documentation in question.
The same Ohio law does not provide guidance about the obligations of the receiving providers. It does not state that you are obligated to receive or review the case. Should you willingly agree to review the chart for the parent/caregiver, you will decide whether or not to disclose the adolescent’s confidential information to the parent/caregiver. No follow-up with CCHMC is necessary. Should you choose to release the confidential information to the parent/caregiver, Cincinnati Children’s recommends notification and support of the adolescent as needed.
Medical Record ROI will continue to release full charts by court order or legal requests. Please send questions or comments to Lindsey Barrick (lindsey.barrick@cchmc.org).