SAMHSA announces webinar on substance use disorder confidentiality rule

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will host a 90-minute webinar on its final rule on confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records. Participants may register to attend on March 17 or March 22 at 1 p.m. ET. The agency recently postponed the rule’s effective date until March 21 under a White House memorandum calling for heads of executive departments and agencies to postpone for review for 60 days most regulations that have been published in the Federal Register but not yet taken effect. AHA had urged SAMHSA to align the final rule, the first major update to the confidentiality rule since 1987, with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.