HHS Announces Proposed Changes to HIPAA Privacy Rule

On May 31, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (?Ç£HHS?Ç¥) released a notice of proposed rulemaking containing changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (?Ç£HIPAA?Ç¥) Privacy Rule, pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (?Ç£HITECH?Ç¥). The proposed rules provide individuals with the right to receive an access report discussing any electronic access to their protected health information (?Ç£PHI?Ç¥). Also included in the proposed rule are changes to the accounting requirements for disclosures of PHI which are intended to better provide individuals with such disclosure information that is most likely to impact the individuals?ÇÖ legal and personal interests. Comments are requested on the proposed rule through August 1, 2011. The proposed rule can be found here.