Protect Patient Privacy When Inviting Media Coverage, HHS Says

Hospitals or clinics that invite media to their facilities to cover the Covid-19 crisis still must comply with patient privacy rules, the Department of Health and Human Services warned in a guidance Tuesday.

“The last thing hospital patients need to worry about during the COVID-19 crisis is a film crew walking around their bed shooting ‘B-roll,’” said Roger Severino, director of the agency’s Office of Civil Rights. “Hospitals and health care providers must get authorization from patients before giving the media access to their medical information; obscuring faces after the fact just doesn’t cut it.”

The guidance explains that even ...