The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced a 45 day extension of the public comment period for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to modify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule.
The new deadline for the public to submit comments is May 6, 2021.
The proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule include:
- strengthening individuals’ rights to access their own health information, including electronic information,
- improving information sharing for care coordination and case management for individuals;
- facilitating greater family and caregiver involvement in the care of individuals experiencing emergencies or health crises;
- enhancing flexibilities for disclosures in emergency or threatening circumstances, such as the Opioid and COVID-19 public health emergencies; and
- reducing administrative burdens on HIPAA covered health care providers and health plans, while continuing to protect individuals’ health information privacy interests.
OCR encourages and will carefully consider comments from all stakeholders, including patients and their families, consumer advocates, HIPAA covered entities (health plans, health care clearinghouses, and most health care providers) and their business associates, health care professional associations, health information management professionals, health information technology vendors, and government entities.