As many anticipated, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has pushed out a flurry of proposed rules in the months leading up to the Trump administration’s departure. Among them is a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would make significant changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
The NPRM, released by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on December 10, 2020, includes provisions that build on the themes set forth in the Interoperability and Patient Access final rule, which was published in March. The proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule are wide-ranging, but the overall intent is clear.