HHS Announces Intention to Revisit HIPAA

Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed rumors that ANCOR alerted members to this past July, announcing a Request for Information (RFI) on modifying the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA protects the privacy of individuals’ medical records, and other health records that could be individually identifiable – this is known a “protected health information”. HIPAA protections are important to people with I/DD, so ANCOR is committed to responding to this RFI. We will keep members informed of developments and opportunities to engage on this topic.

As stated in the RFI to explain HHS’ motivation:

“OCR [HHS’ Office of Civil Rights] seeks public input on ways to modify the HIPAA Rules to remove regulatory obstacles and decrease regulatory burdens in order to facilitate efficient care coordination and/or case management and to promote the transformation to value-based health care, while preserving the privacy and security of PHI. Specifically, OCR seeks information on the provisions of the HIPAA Rules that may present obstacles to, or place unnecessary burdens on, the ability of covered entities and business associates to conduct care coordination and/or case management, or that may inhibit the transformation of the health care system to a value-based health care system. Correspondingly, OCR seeks comment on modifications to the HIPAA Rules that would facilitate efficient care coordination and/or case management, and/or promote the transformation to value-based health care. OCR also broadly requests information and perspectives from regulated entities and the public about covered entities’ and business associates’ technical capabilities, individuals’ interests, and ways to achieve these goals.