Legal and Ethical Impediments to Data Sharing and Integration Among Medical Legal Partnership Participants

Abstract

Medical legal partnerships (MLPs) respond to the medicalization of poverty by addressing the legal and social problems that cause or contribute to poor health. MLPs achieve their mission through collaboration among health care, legal, and public health professionals. Those MLPs with a highly integrated team of professionals offer more comprehensive, coordinated assistance to patient-clients. The success of this interdisciplinary team model depends on open communication among the various MLP professionals. Unfortunately, legal, ethical, and practical barriers often prevent MLP professionals from sharing patient-client information with one another. This Article identifies these barriers and explains how they may undermine the effectiveness of MLPs by hindering data sharing and integration among MLP professionals.

Keywords: medical legal partnership, MLPs, social determinants of health, health privacy, HIPAA, ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, attorney-client privilege