HIPAA and President Obama's Economic Stimulus Package

President Obama expects his economic stimulus, the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, to affect the lives of many Americans. I, for one, will be attempting to capitalize on the $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers, which I'm sure you've all heard about.

Lesser known provisions of the legislation have significant effect on the way HIPAA covered entities and business associates handle Patient Health Information (PHI). For example, under the new law, covered entities will be required to notify individuals when there has been a breach of their PHI, and business associates will be required to notify the covered entities they contract with of breaches, regardless of the terms of their contract. There are many other provisions of this new law that healthcare reimbursement professionals who exchange or utilize PHI should note. The text of the request for information created by the Department of Health and Human Services is provided here.

More information is available on this blog, and in this summary, provided by the Center for Democracy and Technology.

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