HHS Floats Major Changes to HIPAA Privacy Rule

The US Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office for Civil Rights on Thursday proposed changes to HIPAA Privacy Rule, reports Healthcare IT News , with the goal of furthering value-based reimbursement and improve care coordination by enabling greater patient and family access to health data. The notice of proposed rule-making, drafted as part of HHS' Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care initiative, aims to remove regulations that might impede communication and data exchange between provider organizations and health plans. The agency says the proposed changes would expand individuals' rights to access their own digital health information, boost information-sharing and case management across the care continuum and enable greater family and caregiver involvement during emergencies or health crises. The changes would also offer more flexibilities for disclosures in situations such as opioid overdoses and the COVID-19 public health emergency.