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The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued a Request for Information, which is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Dec. 14, 2018. OCR is asking the public to provide input on ways that the HIPAA privacy and security rules could be modified to improve coordinated care. In addition, OCR is seeking public comment regarding potential regulatory changes to decrease burdens and obstacles "to facilitate efficient care coordination and/or case management and to promote the transformation to value-based health care, while preserving the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI)."
In the Request for Information, OCR poses a number of specific questions, and has identified a number of particular goals, including:
- promotion of information sharing for treatment, care coordination and case management;
- encouraging providers and other covered entities to share information with parents and caregivers as a means of combatting the opioid crisis;
- implementing the HITECH Act accounting requirement in a way that minimizes burdens, while providing useful information to individuals; and
- eliminating or changing the requirement for covered providers to obtain an individual's written acknowledgement of receipt of the Notice of Privacy Practices.
Comments will be due within 60 days from the publication of the Request for Information.
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