Disclosure of Mental Health Records 

Some mental health records may now be disclosed without the consent of the patient. Those authorized to disclose without consent are county jails, insurance companies, integrated health systems, State agencies (including the Department of Corrections and the Department of Children and Family Services, to name two). Those authorized to receive the disclosures are hospitals, physicians, therapists, emergency medical personnel (and the members of an “interdisciplinary team“ treating a patient.

Those whose records may be disclosed without consent -- in common parlance: patients -- are “recipients in a program administered or operated by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services or the Department of Human Services.

The records that may be disclosed (and disclosed solely for purposes of treatment and coordination of care) are: services rendered, providers rendering the services, pharmaceuticals prescribed or dispensed, and diagnoses.

All this appears in a new section (section 9.4) added in August of 2011 to the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act. (See PublicAct 097-0515)