Axley has a team of dedicated attorneys on hand to help your business navigate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Several years ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the Omnibus Rule, a collection of changes under HIPAA also known as “the final rule.” These changes to HIPAA continue to have enormous potential implications for businesses doing work—even indirectly—with health care providers and other covered entities, as well as the covered entities themselves and their parameters are continuously being refined and updated.
Significant areas of change to HIPAA included:
- Privacy notices need updating
- HIPAA now covers business associates of business associates
- Breach notification standard changes
- Patients have a right to a copy of their records electronically when available
- Patients who pay out of pocket can request non-disclosure to their health plan
- Providers may use more patient information to focus fundraising
- Limits marketing by covered entities
- Liability and enforcement
The HIPAA compliance attorneys at Axley strongly recommend that if any aspect of HIPAA applys to your business, or for instance, if you are a party to a HIPAA business associate agreement—or someone asks you to sign one—you seek counsel you trust regarding these rules and how they affect your operations.
