Deadline Approaching to Revise HIPAA Policies

By: Margaret Young Levi

The December 23, 2024 deadline is fast approaching for HIPAA covered entities, including health care providers and health plans, to revise their HIPAA policies and procedures relating to reproductive health.

Earlier this year, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Final Rule prohibiting the disclosure of protected health information (PHI) related to lawful reproductive health care in certain circumstances. This will require HIPAA covered entities to amend their policies and procedures, as well as their Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP). While updates to policies and procedures must be completed by December 23, 2024, the new NPP requirements will not go into effect until February 16, 2026. Some covered entities will need to amend their business associate agreements if the agreements permit an activity no longer permitted under the revised Privacy Rule.

For additional information about this Final Rule, please check out our previous article on this topic. 

Looking for assistance in this area? We regularly work with our clients regarding their policies and procedures related to compliance with HIPAA and other data privacy and security laws and regulations.  If you are looking for assistance in this area, contact Kathie McDonald-McClure at (502) 562-7526 or Margaret Levi Young at (859) 288-7469. To learn more about Wyatt’s health care, data privacy and cyber security practice, visit the following Wyatt website pages: Wyatt Data Privacy & Cyber Security and Wyatt Health Care.

New HIPAA Final Rule Supporting Reproductive Health Care Privacy Also Requires Amending Notices of Privacy Practices

By: Margaret Young Levi

On April 22, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a Final Rule entitled HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy. This Final Rule not only bolsters the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and its implementing regulations (collectively, HIPAA) by prohibiting the disclosure of protected health information (PHI) related to lawful reproductive health care in certain circumstances, but also requires HIPAA covered entities (health care providers, health plans, and health care clearinghouses) to amend their Notices of Privacy Practices (NPPs).

HIPAA and Reproductive Health Care Privacy

HHS is issuing this Final Rule because of concerns that officials in states with more extreme abortion bans, like Kentucky, will seek medical records from states where abortion is legal (or even from their own states) in order to prosecute individuals who cross state lines to seek an abortion. To prevent those medical records from being used against people for providing or obtaining lawful reproductive health care, the Final Rule prohibits the use or disclosure of PHI by a covered entity—or their business associate—for the following activities:

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