OCR Proposes Expansion of HIPAA and HITECH Rights: Industry to be Saddled With Large Costs; 20 Minutes to Read and Implement 24 Pages of Regulations?

Check out this News Alert from our partner Haynes and Boone, LLP: 

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Health and Human Services today proposed an expansion of the rights of individuals to obtain reports from health providers and insurers about how their protected health information (PHI) is used. The draft regulations will require health providers and insurers (called “Covered Entities”) to provide more data faster and in a variety of formats as requested by individuals. In a surprising analysis contained in the draft regulations, the OCR estimates it will take Covered Entities only 20 minutes to read and implement these changes, which encompass 24 pages of regulations. This is the latest example of the government’s inaccurate estimate of costs borne by the health industry to comply with regulations that provide questionable benefits for a small segment of the population. The public will have until July 31, 2011 to provide comments on the proposed changes.

To read the full alert, please visit the Publications section of our website.