January 18, 2013. On January 16, 2013, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its EO 12866 regulatory review of RIN: 0945-AA03, and the long-awaited release of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) so-called “Omnibus” Final Rule was published at 4:15 PM on January 17, 2013, in pre-publication final draft form on the Federal Register’s Electronic Public Inspection Desk. Publication in the Federal Register is scheduled for Friday, January 25, 2013. The title of the Final Rule is: 45 CFR Parts 160 and 164: Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules under the Health Information Technology for Economic and…
Tag: health information
Exploring HIPAA and HITECH Act Definitions: Part 7
From now through November, HIPAA.com is providing a run through of HIPAA transaction & code set, privacy, and security definitions, along with relevant HITECH Act definitions pertaining to breach notification, securing of protected health information, and electronic health record (EHR) standards development and adoption. These definitions are key to understanding the referenced HIPAA and HITECH Act enabling regulations that are effective now and that will require compliance by covered entities and business associates now or in the months ahead, as indicated in HIPAA.com’s timeline. Each posting will contain three definitions, with a date reference to the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), or statute, as appropriate. Exploring HIPAA and…
HIPAA ‘Protected Health Information’: What Does PHI Include?
HIPAA.com has received from its readers requests for information on topics related to HIPAA Administrative Simplification Privacy and Security Rules and to updates to those rules reflected in the HITECH Act provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009. Of particular interest to readers is: what exactly is protected health information (PHI)? Protected Health Information To get to protected health information, you have to examine two definitions that were in Section 1171 of Part C of Subtitle F of Public Law 104-191 (August 21, 1996): Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996: Administrative Simplification. These statutory definitions are of…
HHS appoints members to HIT Policy and Standards Committee
On Friday, May 8, 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced appointments to the Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee and HIT Standards Committee. These federal advisory committees were established by provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that President Obama signed on February 17, 2009. Today, is the first meeting of the HIT Policy Committee, and Friday, May 15, 2009, is the first scheduled meeting of the HIT Standards Committee, both in Washington, DC. According to the press release issued by HHS, “[t]he HIT Policy Committee will make recommendations to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology [Dr. David Blumenthal] on a policy…