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Drummond: Court Denies Mandamus Relief From Restrictive HIPAA Order

  • State: Alabama
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On Feb. 23, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals released its opinion in Ex Parte Alabama Gas Corporation, denying Alagasco’s petition for writ of mandamus wherein it sought relief from a particularly restrictive HIPAA order entered by the trial court.

Charley M. Drummond

Charley M. Drummond

It is quite a common occurrence for judges in workers’ compensation cases to enter a HIPAA order. The purpose of such an order is to ensure compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), while still allowing parties to obtain protected health information relevant to the case.

However, in the underlying case of Robert Smitherman v Alabama Gas Corporation, the trial court entered a HIPAA order that was a departure from the "standard" order typically entered. That order provided, among other things, that the parties and their attorneys were allowed to obtain protected health information (namely medical records and bills) only after issuing a subpoena.

It also limited the parties’ ability to obtain records pertaining to personal injury, and prohibited any medical care provider from disclosing any protected health information other than that which directly pertained to the alleged work-related injury.

The order further expressly prohibited Alagasco’s attorneys from engaging in any ex parte discussions, conferences, interviews and/or telephonic or email communications with any of the plaintiff’s health care providers without first providing notice to the plaintiff’s attorney.

Alagasco filed a motion to amend the HIPAA order, asserting that it prohibited certain methods of discovery that are allowed in workers’ compensation cases. The trial court set Alagasco’s motion to amend for hearing on Dec. 20, 2017.

However, two days prior to that, Alagasco filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, and also filed motion-to-stay proceedings at the trial court level, pending the Court of Appeals’ resolution of its mandamus petition.

At the Dec. 20, 2017, hearing, the trial court denied Alagasco’s motion to stay. However, the judge stated, "I think the HIPAA order, to some degree, is due to be amended ... there may be some revision that I acknowledge needs to be made."

Alagasco argued to the Court of Appeals that the HIPAA order prohibits any meaningful opportunity on the part of Alagasco to make timely determinations of reasonableness, necessity and relatedness of recommended medical treatment. It also argued that the order precludes any opportunity to ensure that the plaintiff is compliant with reasonable requests to submit to medical treatment as provided in the act.

However, the Court of Appeals denied Alagasco’s petition without ruling on the merits of the arguments. The Court of Appeals held that Alagasco failed to demonstrate that the trial court clearly exceeded its discretion, or that Alagasco lacked another adequate remedy by appeal.

Judge Terry Moore wrote a concurring opinion, stating that though he agreed that the petition for writ of mandamus was due to be denied, it was primarily because the trial court had not explicitly refused to act on Alagasco’s motion to amend the HIPAA order.

Charley M. Drummond is an attorney with Fish Nelson & Holden LLC, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. This entry is republished, with permission, from firm's Alabama Workers' Comp Blawg.

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