Kirk J. Nahra of WilmerHale writes:
Following a pattern of familiarity for health lawyers, the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) has released a substantial Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(NPRM) in December at the end of an administration.[1] The NPRM is intended to
revise the Privacy Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA). Because comments are not due until after the new Biden administration takes
office, the fate of this NPRM is unclear. At the same time, this NPRM reflects two key
issues of concern to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in its current incarnation:
improving patient access to health information (a goal presumably shared by a new
administration) and expanding opportunities for increased information sharing in specific
contexts (primarily focused on coordinated care and sharing with social service
organizations).
You can access his helpful article about the proposed rulemaking via WilmerHale
It’s also embedded below. The article is “Copyright 2020, American Health Law Association, Washington, DC. Reprint permission
granted.”