Covered entities (CEs) that have flirted with the 30-day mark for response time with patient requests for access to or copies of their protected health information (PHI) should take notice: they may need to get better. Two times better, that is.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) released December 10, 2020 calls for shortening CEs’ required response time to no later than 15 calendar days (from the current 30 days) with the opportunity for an extension of no more than 15 calendar days (from the current 30-day extension).