May 2006 Newsletter

HHS Publishes HIPAA's Final Enforcement Rule

By: Compliance Officer

As reported in the May 2005 issue of Q-Tips, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Enforcement Rule in the April 18, 2005 Federal Register. At long last, the final enforcement rule has been published in the February 16, 2006 Federal Register and took effect March 16.

The final rule clarifies the enforcement process HHS developed when it issued the privacy rule in 2000 and the interim enforcement rule in 2003. The final rule contains no substantive changes and continues to be complaint driven.