Are law enforcement agencies covered by HIPAA?
A. Police, firefighters and other law enforcement agencies are NOT considered covered entities under HIPAA. HIPAA does not extend, for example, to police incident reports, fire incident reports, court records, records of agencies that do not provide healthcare or insure healthcare, autopsy or any records which an individual has authorized to be disclosed. Q. What if my fire department has an ambulance service? A. Fire departments that provide ambulance or emergency medical services may consider themselves to be “hybrid entities” under HIPAA, and assume that no one in the department is allowed to talk to anyone, ever. If this is the case, you should approach your department about setting up procedures that allow the fire chief and/or the public information officer to get information without getting it from the people who are providing emergency medical services. Q. Are family members and witnesses covered by HIPAA? A. No. HIPAA only applies to health care providers who compile protected
