A 40-year-old woman arrives at the clinic with new-onset genital lesions. She is discovered to have many genital warts in her vaginal region upon inspection. Otherwise, testing for sexually transmitted infections is negative. The patient admits to having an adulterous affair while on business. The physician receives a phone call the following week from the patient's spouse, who is not a patient at the office. He is aware that his wife has lately been examined and would like information about her health since he is concerned about his bodily issues. Which of the following is the most suitable medical response?

Question

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Eductional Objective: The Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) specifies how to manage protected health information (PHI). HIPAA's primary purpose is to safeguard patient privacy and confidentiality. A physician can only reply to a family member's request for information if the patient has expressly authorized the transmission of information to the family member, either verbally or in writing.
Notifiable infections (e.g., HIV, chlamydia, tuberculosis) are an exception to the Privacy Rule and must be reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); many states provide partner notification services by local health departments (rather than individual clinicians) to protect patient privacy. However, human papillomavirus infection (eg, genital warts) is not a notifiable infection, and PHI disclosure without patient consent (eg, partner notification) would be a violation of HIPAA

A 40-Year-Old Woman Arrives at the Clinic with New-Onset Genital