Wednesday, December 16, 2020
On December 10, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to modify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. As a part of the OCR’s Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care, this NPRM builds on the public comments previously received in response to the agency’s 2018 Request for Information on Modifying the HIPAA Rules to Improve Coordinated Care.
HHS OCR proposes changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, and requests comments regarding: (1) strengthened access for individuals to their own information (including electronic information); (2) improved information sharing policies regarding care coordination and case management for individuals; (3) improved policies to facilitate family and caregiver involvement for individual’s health emergencies or crises; (4) enhanced flexibility for disclosure in public health emergencies; and (5) proposed reduction of administrative burdens for HIPAA covered health care providers and health plans, specifically with regard to Notices of Privacy Practices.