HIPAA Year in Review - 2002
As you are well aware, the implementation of HIPAA is already impacting many facets of the medical industry. However, with the official start date for one rule postponed a year, a second "final" rule likely to change again, and a third rule still unpublished, it is anyone's guess when HIPAA will be complete.
In the meantime, we offer some HIPAA highlights from 2002:
- Many institutions have taken advantage of the one-year grace period to implement the Transactions and Code Sets (TCS) rule. Due to take effect last October, a general lack of institutional readiness and a very vocal constituency led to a new launch date of October 16, 2003, for those who applied for the extension.
- In May, the TCS standard for an Employer Identification Number was published. Starting July 30, 2004, providers and payers must use their IRS-issued National Employer Identifier (Federal Tax Number) in connection with certain electronic transactions.
- The department of Health and Human Services issued the "final"
Privacy Rule in 2002. And, although it is due to take effect this April,
don't be surprised if there are more changes, as the government struggles
to balance patient privacy with the needs of national security.
- One of the biggest changes from the proposed privacy rule was the removal of the need for providers to obtain consent prior to disclosing protected health information. Instead, providers now must ask patients to sign for receipt of a "Notice of Privacy Practices." Authorization, although simplified, will still be required for non-TPH (treatment, payment, and health care operations) uses.
- Sharing protected health information between covered and non-covered entities also has been simplified.
- The final rule also modified business associate agreement requirements in order to account for preexisting contracts.
- Additional changes loosened the rules for de-identified data in research, while, at the same time, tightened the rules for marketing.
Visit our website for updated
HIPAA information as it becomes available. We also recommend www.hipaadvisory.com
for some of the best coverage of HIPAA, and, of course, http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HIPAAGenInfo/,
the official website of HIPAA.