On June 7, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-26 “An Act Concerning Various Revisions to the Public Health Statutes” (the “Act”). This Act makes notable changes to laws affecting hospital and health system practices, including the following:

Hospitals Required to Give Patients Option to Contact Family or other

On June 12, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued timely HIPAA guidance (Guidance) regarding solicitations of blood and plasma donations from recovered COVID-19 patients.

In the Guidance, OCR affirms that health care providers can use patient information to identify patients that have recovered from COVID-19 to provide information about how they may donate plasma or blood with COVID-19 antibodies to support treatment of other patients with COVID-19. OCR explains that this use of protected health information would be permissible as part of a provider’s health care operations to enable case management of COVID-19 patient populations. OCR also reminds providers that because the activity is a health care operation and not for treatment purposes, HIPAA’s minimum necessary standard applies to any use or disclosure of protected health information in connection with the solicitation of blood or plasma donations.
Continue Reading HHS Issues Guidance for Providers on Soliciting COVID-19 Blood and Plasma Donations