Psychotherapy Notes

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule (45 CFR 164.508(a) (2)) defines Psychotherapy Notes as "Notes recorded in any medium by a mental health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of conversation during a private counseling session or a group, joint, or family counseling session that are separate from the rest of the individual’s medical record. Psychotherapy notes exclude medication prescription and monitoring, counseling session start and stop times, the modalities and frequencies of treatment furnished, results of clinical tests, and any summary of the following items: diagnosis, functional status, the treatment plan, symptoms, prognosis, and progress to date." [1]. This rule has many exception rules for disclosure of the information either to patients themselves,or who are teens or children,psychologists,family members,or friends or trustees as it contains very personal information not intended to be part of medical records.