HIPAA does not apply to emergency communications. There are specific exemptions in the regulations that implement the law.
HIPAA does not apply to law enforcement agencies unless they provide paid medical services, such as a police operated EMS system. Even then, the law would only apply to the people who provided those services.
Agencies that use HIPAA as an excuse to encrypt radio transmissions are either misinformed or lying to the public.
I agree completely. And I'm not saying that the county officially used this excuse...but it is the only reason I can come up with as to why they went encrypted on EMS calls. They are probably mis-informed like a lot of other places in the country that encrypt in the name of HIPAA.
From an internet search on the subject:
Question: Why don’t you use encryption? Doesn’t HIPAA require it?
The majority of radio users in our surrounding counties have radios without encryption capability. In order to provide interoperable communications and the potential capability for our neighbors to communicate with hospitals on the BRICS network, we did not use encryption. No, it is not required by HIPAA. The Department of Health and Human Services states that the HIPAA privacy rule does not require encryption of wireless or other emergency medical radio communications which can be intercepted by scanners.
Source: HIPAA Incidental Uses and Disclosures (PDF)
