It’s normal to be curious about what your therapist is writing.
What are your rights when it comes to accessing these notes?
It also discusses what to do if you decide to request your therapist’s notes.
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Find out which option is the best for you.
What Are Therapy Notes?
These notes are not the same as progress notes.
Progress notes serve to document the progress of treatment.
They include information about the presenting symptoms, diagnosis, current functioning, treatment plan, and prognosis.
They also include information about medications, treatment modalities, and results of psychological tests.
While they contain important information, progress notes are briefer and more limited in terms of their scope.
This is because these notes' information might be shared with other service providers and insurance companies.
Therapy notes, on the other hand, are much more detailed.
They may contain more personal information that should not be shared with others outside of the therapeutic relationship.
Under HIPAA laws, people do not have a right to access their therapy notes.
While they may request access, their therapist is not obligated to give them these notes.
There are a few different reasons you might want to access therapy notes.
Whatever the reason, you gotta be clear in your explanation to your therapist.
Outline your reasons and discuss them with your therapist, but keep your expectations reasonable.
They may lead a therapist to a diagnosis, but they are not the diagnosis.
Because of this, it up to your therapist as to whether they will release them.
Under HIPAA, a therapist is not legally required to do so.
What a therapist cannot do is withhold them as a means to compel payment of a late bill.
Any coercion of this sort is punishable under the law.
Recap
Federal laws state that clients do not have a right to access therapy process notes.
However, state laws may also affect whether you could access these notes.
Having access to these notes was also perceived as beneficial for those who were being treated.
While denying process notes may seem very unfair, there is a rationale for the law.
If you would like to access these notes, discuss it with your therapist.
Talking about your reasons for wanting to read these notes can help your therapist understand your request.
It can also help you understand some of your therapist’s concerns about releasing these confidential records.
If a therapist turns you down, ask for an explanation but avoid getting into an argument.
Dont let a disagreement over therapy notes destroy an otherwise valuable and productive relationship.
A therapist can edit their notes, although this should be done with caution.
A therapist might also edit their notes if their client makes a reasonable correction request.
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