A March 31 article published in Bloomberg BNA's Privacy Law Watch and other publications reports that the pace of HIPAA privacy audits is expected to remain the same under a newly appointed HHS civil rights director. Eric Fader was quoted in the article, "New HHS Civil Rights Head to Stay the Course on Privacy."

While the appointee, Roger Severino, doesn't bring any specific healthcare experience to his new role as director of the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, he should maintain the OCR's existing commitment to enforce the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Eric told Bloomberg BNA. Eric said it's unlikely that there will be a partisan battle over the OCR's approach to HIPAA enforcement, which includes auditing healthcare providers and their business associates for compliance with the HIPAA privacy, security and breach notification rules.

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