The Department of Health and Human Services is proposing newprivacy rules governing protected health information accountingprocedures under the Health Insurance Portability and AccountabilityAct (HIPAA).
The proposed rules would implement new provisions under theHealth Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act(HITECH Act) that require HIPAA-covered entities to account fordisclosures of protected health information when used to carry outtreatment, payment and health care operations, if such disclosuresare through an electronic health record.
The proposed rule would give individuals the right, under boththe HITECH Act and HIPAA, to receive a report indicating who hasaccessed electronic protected health information in a designatedrecord set.
The agency also proposed changes to the existing accountingrequirements to improve workability and effectiveness under HIPAA.
Comments on the rules, RIN 0991-AB62, which was published in theFederal Register earlier this month, are being accepted until Aug.1at http://www.regulations.gov.
For more on regulations under the HITECH Act, see the Lawyers USAarticle 'New HIPAA rules create lots of health care contract work.'
