Free AAMA Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) Practice Question

A patient's authorization is generally required to release medical information for reasons other than treatment, payment, or health care operations. In the scenario where a lawyer requests a patient's records for a lawsuit, the patient must provide authorization, as this use is not for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. Discarding of records is done in accordance with privacy regulations on disposal and does not inherently require patient authorization. Sharing information for the treatment purpose between healthcare providers and for payment activities such as billing insurance are permissible without explicit patient authorization under HIPAA.