Reminder for Comments on Improving Care Coordination and HIPAA Rules
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), sent out a reminder for input from the public on how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Rules, especially the HIPAA Privacy Rule, could be modified to further the HHS Secretary's goal of promoting coordinated, value-based healthcare.
In addition to requesting broad input on the HIPAA Rules, the OCR is also seeking comments on specific areas of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, including:
- Encouraging information-sharing for treatment and care coordination.
- Facilitating parental involvement in care.
- Addressing the opioid crisis and serious mental illness.
- Accounting for disclosures of PHI for treatment, payment, and health care operations as required by the HITECH Act.
- Changing the current requirement for certain providers to make a good faith effort to obtain an acknowledgment of receipt of the Notice of Privacy Practices.
As we discussed in our December article, public comments are due by February 12, 2019.
The Request for Information is available for review at: https://bit.ly/2BGVjnx