The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has been vigorously enforcing patients’ right to access their medical records under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
[1] According to an October 9 notice, the OCR has settled nine such investigations in its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative.
[2]
In a blog post
[3] put together by Waller law firm professionals, the initiative is discussed alongside other rules affecting an individual’s right to access their records, specifically the 21
st Century Cures Act’s interoperability and information-blocking rules:
“Under these Rules, a patient’s request for records (as well as others) must be provided in compliance with the Information Blocking Rule requirements or the Health IT developer and healthcare providers risk enforcement…[or potentially be subject to] penalties of up to $1 million per violation.”
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//]]>// >By Richard Adhikari
Oct 20, 2020 12:06 PM PT
Healthcare records were digitized to help prevent medical errors such as misdiagnoses and mistakes with medication, but electronic health records (EHR) have made it easier for bad actors to steal patients highly personal information.
Cyberattacks on hospitals are increasing exponentially year after year, Ellen Neveux wrote in secure remote access provider SecureLink s blog. Healthcare data is valuable on the black market because it contains all of an individual s personally identifiable information, as opposed to a single marker that may be found in a financial breach, Neveux stated. Often, these attacks see hundreds of thousands of patients data compromised or stolen.
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On December 10, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a proposed rule that would revise the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
In its news release, OCR noted that the changes “seeks to promote value-based health care by examining federal regulations that impede efforts among healthcare providers and health plans to better coordinate care for patients.” The proposed changes come on the heels of the recently delayed Information Blocking Rule, which seeks to prohibit interferences with access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI). The key proposed changes are discussed below.