In May 2011, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) issued a proposed rule to modify the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s standard for accounting of disclosures of protected health information (PHI). The proposed rule would have implemented the HITECH Act’s requirement for covered entities and business associates […]
HIPAA
Alston & Bird Health Care Advisory: HIPAA Audit Program Phase 2 Update
We have previously blogged about the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services HIPAA Audit Program, including the Audit Program pilot (November 30, 2011 and March 7, 2012), the release of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) audit protocols (June 26, 2012), and the status of phase 2 of the Audit Program (February 26, 2014 […]
Laboratories Must Comply with New HIPAA Patient Access Rules by October 6, 2014
HIPAA covered laboratories and hospitals with laboratories subject to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”) must comply with changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule that provide patients with direct access to laboratory test results by October 6, 2014. Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the HHS Office for Civil […]
HIPAA Audit Program Phase 2: Delayed
A representative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has recently revealed that OCR has delayed the start of phase 2 of its HIPAA Audit Program – and has revised its plans for phase 2. Previous Plans for Phase 2 Earlier this year, OCR had announced that phase […]
HHS OIG Releases Report Regarding ONC’s Oversight of Testing and Certification of Electronic Health Records
The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a report regarding the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) oversight of electronic health record (EHR) testing and certification, “The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s Oversight of the Testing and Certification of Electronic Health Records.” ONC was statutorily […]