Apr 1, 2021

OCR Extends Comment Period on HIPAA Rulemaking Proposal

By Deborah A. Cmielewski, Esq.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) has announced a 45-day extension to the comment period on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) to modify the Privacy Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH”). The comment period, which was initially scheduled to expire on March 22, 2021, will conclude on May 6, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. 

The NPRM, which is part of the HHS’ Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care, aims to promote the sharing of health information and coordination of patient care. The NPRM seeks to (i) expand a covered entity’s ability to disclose protected health information (“PHI”) in certain emergency circumstances; (ii) broaden a covered entity’s ability to disclose PHI to avert a threat to health or safety; (iii) modify the definition of “health care operations”; (iv) permit covered entities to share PHI with certain third parties that provide or coordinate health-related services; (v) facilitate an individual’s right of access to his or her own health information: (vi) eliminate the requirement to obtain a patient’s acknowledgment of receiving a Notice of Privacy Practices; and (vii) permit the disclosure of patient information to Telecommunications Relay Services (“TRS”). A complete copy of the NPRM is available here.   

The NPRM was initially posted on the Federal Register website on January 19, 2021 and the Office of the Federal Register published the NPRM in the Federal Register on January 21, 2021. On January 20, 2021, the White House issued a Regulatory Freeze Memorandum to provide new appointees the ability to review new and pending rules prior to further implementation. In addition to directing new rules to be placed on hold and pending rules to be withdrawn, the Memorandum directed Executive Department and Agency heads to consider extending for 60 days the effective date of rules already published in the Register. The OCR has issued the 45-day extension to clarify that the NPRM remains available for public comment despite the Regulatory Freeze Memorandum and to allow sufficient time to receive meaningful input from interested stakeholders.

For more information regarding the NPRM, contact Deborah A. Cmielewski, Esq. at dac@spsk.com or 973-540-7327.