Health Law Attorney BlogThe Office for Civil Rights has just released the long awaited HIPAA “Omnibus Rules”
Stay tuned for many further developments – The Health Law Partners will be providing numerous valuable educational resources for its clients.
The announcement and links are below.
January 17, 2013
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a new rule to strengthen the privacy and security protections for health information established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The final omnibus rule greatly enhances a patient’s privacy protections, provides individuals new rights to their health information, and strengthens the government’s ability to enforce the law.
The changes in the final rulemaking provide the public with increased protection and control of personal health information. The changes announced today expand many of the privacy and security requirements to business associates that receive protected health information, such as contractors and subcontractors. Business associates may also be liable for the increased penalties for noncompliance based on the level of negligence up to a maximum penalty of $1.5 million. The changes also strengthen the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Breach Notification requirements by clarifying when breaches of unsecured health information must be reported to HHS.
Individual rights are expanded in important ways. Patients can ask for a copy of their electronic medical record in an electronic form. When individuals pay by cash they can instruct their provider not to share information about their treatment with their health plan. The final omnibus rule sets new limits on how information is used and disclosed for marketing and fundraising purposes, and prohibits the sale of an individual’s health information without their permission.
The final omnibus rule is based on statutory changes under the HITECH Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) which clarifies that genetic information is protected under the HIPAA Privacy Rule and prohibits most health plans from using or disclosing genetic information for underwriting purposes.
The Rulemaking announced today may be viewed in the Federal Register at https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2013-01073.pdf.
The HHS Press Release can be found on the HHS News page: http://www.hhs.gov/news/.
For more information, please contact Abby Pendleton, Esq. or Clinton Mikel, Esq. at (248) 996-8510, or visit The HLP website.