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…
Tag: unsecured protected health information
HHS Issues Interim Final Rule for HITECH ‘Breach Notification’
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, has issued the Interim Final Rule for Breach Notification for Unsecured Protected Health Information. The Interim Final Rule was signed by Secretary Sebelius on August 6, 2009, filed at the Federal Register on Wednesday, August 19, 2009, and will be published on Monday, August 24, 2009, in the Federal Register. The effective date of the Interim Final Rule will be 30 days after publication, and will cover both covered entities and business associates of covered entities. Here is the Summary of the Interim Final Rule: “The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is issuing this interim final rule with…
ARRA’s HITECH Privacy Provisions Apply HIPAA Security Rule to Business Associates
President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) provisions of ARRA in Title XIII include important changes in Privacy (Subtitle D). Our focus in this posting is the change related to business associates under HIPAA Administrative Simplification that is specified in Section 13401: Application of Security Provisions and Penalties to Business Associates of Covered Entities. In this section, administrative, physical, and technical safeguards, and policy, procedure, and documentation requirements of the HIPAA Administrative Simplification Security Rule “shall apply to a business associate of a covered entity in the…