HIPAA Preemption Decision from the Louisiana Court of Appeals Decision

A State of Louisiana Court of Appeals First Circuit Decision looks at HIPAA preemption involving the state law process for obtaining medical and health records via subpeona under a criminal matter. The September 23, 2005 decision in State of Louisiana v. Virginia Downes, challenged the validity of a district attorney subpoena issued to obtained medical records and looks at whether or not the Administrative Simplification provisions under HIPAA preempt Louisiana's laws related to obtaining a lawful subpeona under La. R.S. 13:3715.1(B). The courts finds that it would not be impossible to comply with both federal (HIPAA) and state law requirements for obtaining records via subpoena, thus, no preemption.

Thanks to Alan Goldberg and the AHLA HIT listserve for the tip on this new decision. While looking for a link to Alan's webpage I also noticed his new blog called HealthLawyer.