BE AWARE OF NEW HIPAA RULES

As predicted in 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a final ruling in January 2013 which broadens patient privacy and security protections beyond those of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996.  Highlights of the voluminous new ruling include: stricter enforcement of HIPAA regulations; expansion of most HIPAA regulations to include business associates, e.g., accountants, lawyers, practice management consultants, and various other contractors who may receive protected patient health information; restrictions on disclosures about treatment for which the patient personally has paid in full; expansion of patients’ rights to receive electronic copies of their own health records; expansion of the definition of “health information” to include genetic information; specifications of breaches concerning the release of protected data which must be reported to the HHS Office for Civil Rights; and so on.  For more details about the new ruling, go to the HHS website or to the Federal Registry website, www.federalregister.gov.