New York, NY (October 16, 2023)—Today CAI announced that it has been awarded funding by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration to continue administering the Center of Excellence for Protected Health Information (CoE-PHI) through September 2026.
CoE-PHI provides training and technical assistance and develops resources that help states and healthcare practitioners and administrators understand and apply health privacy laws. CoE-PHI also helps patients and their families understand their privacy rights when seeking or receiving treatment for substance use or mental health.
In partnership with the Legal Action Center, CAI has trained more than 10,000 healthcare professionals in all 50 states and four territories; developed more than 75 resources for the field; and provided more than 250 instances of technical assistance through the CoE-PHI.
The continued funding award will allow CAI to build on its accomplishments and pursue new initiatives, including providing skills-based training for behavioral health professionals to help them have effective conversations with patients about consenting to share treatment information. The CoE-PHI will also expand its partnership with the Network for Public Health Law to help healthcare professionals understand state health privacy laws and their interaction with federal laws.
“We’re excited to continue the work of keeping providers abreast of changes to health privacy laws and how these changes affect the care they provide,” said Michael Graziano, CoE-PHI project director. “We know that, ultimately, this will encourage more people to seek and remain in treatment because patients depend on confidentiality protections in order to feel confident sharing sensitive information with their providers.”