Healthcare Leaders See Significant Positives in Proposed HIPAA Reforms
WASHINGTON – Reforms to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) announced yesterday by the Department of Health and Human Services appear to provide some much-needed improvements and modernization to patient privacy regulations, the president of the Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC) said today.
“While it will take time to fully review these proposed changes, we are encouraged by the intent to give patients and healthcare consumers more control over their health information,” said HLC president Mary R. Grealy. “This is an important effort by HHS to bring the rules governing patient data into the 21st century.”
She also praised HHS regulators for recognizing the need for greater flexibility in making patient health information more accessible to medical professionals in times of extreme need.
“We are living in the midst of back-to-back public health emergencies – first the opioid crisis, and then the COVID-19 pandemic. We have seen how important it is for physicians and other healthcare professionals to have access to relevant patient data in order to make the right treatment decisions,” she said.
Another encouraging aspect of the proposed rule changes, she said, is the effort to reduce administrative burdens on healthcare plans and providers by eliminating mandatory requirements, such as requiring patient signatures on notices of privacy practices, that add no value to patient care.
For Immediate Release
December 11, 2020
Contact: Kelly Fernandez 202-449-3452
