Thursday, February 18, 2010, a new restriction on disclosure of protected health information went into effect that impacts Covered Entity health care providers. According to Section 13405 of Subtitle D of the HITECH Act (42 USC 17935), a health care provider must honor a patient request to restrict disclosure of protected health information to a health plan for purposes other than carrying out treatment (namely, payment or health care operations) if the patient pays the health care provider out of pocket in full.