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Notification of Enforcement Discretion for telehealth:
We are empowering medical providers to serve patients wherever they are during this national public health emergency. We are especially concerned about reaching those most at risk, including older persons and persons with disabilities. – Roger Severino, OCR Director.
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for enforcing certain regulations issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, to protect the privacy and security of protected health information, namely the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules (the HIPAA Rules).
During the COVID-19 national emergency, which also constitutes a nationwide public health emergency, covered health care providers subject to the HIPAA Rules may seek to communicate with patients, and provide telehealth services, through remote communications technologies. Some of these technologies, and the manner in which they are used by HIPAA covered health care providers, may not fully comply with the requirements of the HIPAA Rules.
OCR will exercise its enforcement discretion and will not impose penalties for noncompliance with the regulatory requirements under the HIPAA Rules against covered health care providers in connection with the good faith provision of telehealth during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. This notification is effective immediately.
A covered health care provider that wants to use audio or video communication technology to provide telehealth to patients during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency can use any non-public facing remote communication product that is available to communicate with patients. OCR is exercising its enforcement discretion to not impose penalties for noncompliance with the HIPAA Rules in connection with the good faith provision of telehealth using such non-public facing audio or video communication products during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. This exercise of discretion applies to telehealth provided for any reason, regardless of whether the telehealth service is related to the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions related to COVID-19.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday March 18 2020, @03:44AM (8 children)
From the bottom of the linked page
Office for Civil Rights Headquarters
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Toll Free Call Center: 1-800-368-1019
TTD Number: 1-800-537-7697
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @03:47AM (4 children)
Let me get this straight, so if I, like, accidently leak the fact that a certain prolific Soylentil has a Plumber Embolism with Secondary Striations, I am off the hook, HIPAA speaking? Sweet!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @03:55AM (3 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @06:30AM (2 children)
I said, "accidently release user 2626's data, which we only collect in bulk, so it is not individually identifiable." Opps!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @06:33AM (1 child)
You see, this is what happens with overly strict privacy regulations. Fortunately Trump has rescinded these. You meant "2926", right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @08:18AM
Oh, right, my bad! For symptoms, check out posts above. Symptomatic, totally!
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:24PM (2 children)
Thank you. I missed that.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday March 19 2020, @01:29AM (1 child)
basic assumption on SN - everything is about the US, unless specifically stated otherwise.
after all, who else has the World Series? [wikipedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday March 19 2020, @03:36PM
Perhaps it's because they have so many basement dwellers - they don't know that there is a much bigger world outside of their own borders.