New HIPAA Reproductive Health Care Privacy Protections
Lexology May 23, 2024
On April 22, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule[i] to modify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule to support the privacy of reproductive health care information.[ii] The final rule follows the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the federal right to abortion under the U.S. Constitution. In response, many states took action to ban or restrict abortion and other reproductive health care. The federal government has issued this final rule to expand reproductive health care privacy protections out of concern that these new state laws may have a chilling effect...