OCR Update on Issuance of HIPAA HITECH Rulemaking
Update from Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issuance of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) relating to the changes to HIPAA under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) passed as a part of ARRA. Health care organizations and health lawyers have been anxiously awaiting rules implementing and interpreting the changes because the effective date for many of the HITECH requirements was February 17, 2010.
The notice also seems to indicate that the the date for compliance and enforcement may be delayed since it states that the NPRM “will provide specific information regarding the expected date of compliance and enforcement.”
The notice states:
OCR will implement important privacy and security provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act through notice and comment rulemaking, as required by the Administrative Procedure Act. These provisions include: business associate liability; new limitations on the sale of protected health information, marketing, and fundraising communications; and stronger individual rights to access electronic medical records and restrict the disclosure of certain information. OCR continues work on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding these provisions. Although the effective date (February 17, 2010) for many of these HITECH Act […]
Read more this great post here
