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HHS to Propose Regulations Concerning Health Information under HITECH

The Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it will be issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to begin implementing recent statutory amendments under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH Act”).  According to the July 8 announcement, the proposed regulations, set to be published July 14, 2010, are designed to strengthen the privacy and security protection of health information and to improve the workability and effectiveness of the existing HIPAA privacy and security rules.

Rules to be Affected

The proposed rules would modify the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (Privacy Rule), the Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information (Security Rule), and the rules pertaining to Compliance and Investigations, Imposition of Civil Money Penalties, and Procedures for Hearings (Enforcement Rule) issued under HIPAA.

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We will be reviewing these regulations and reporting on them as appropriate.   Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to answer inquiries regarding HIPAA and other laws affecting employers.