Guest blog: California expands scope of Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, strengthening protections for mental health information exchanged through digital health applications

By: Andrew Serwin, Kristi Kung, Bethany J. Hills, Christine Lentz

With the mounting mental health crisis intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, the telemental health industry has exploded in recent years. According to recent estimates, as many as 325,000 health and wellness apps are available for download, and 10,000-20,000 apps have been designed specifically for mental health. Many of these programs require clients to record their symptoms, which has led to reports of privacy concerns, because these companies may profit from … Read the rest