The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights will seek public comment on whether rule provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act make it difficult for health care organizations to share information, GovInfoSecurity reports. The OCR will look for comments on whether a safe harbor is needed for “good faith disclosures” of personal health information and when PHI is disclosed without a patient’s consent. Privacy professionals are not sure HIPAA rules are the main reason why health care organizations are reluctant to share data. “My view is that the HIPAA rules are not the barrier; providers may be confused or may be reluctant to share or may be unwilling to share in these situations,” said Wiley Rein Partner Kirk Nahra, CIPP/US. “I believe the rules give them sufficient flexibility in most situations.”
Full Story