HealthIT.gov May 13, 2024
On April 22, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a final rule, entitled HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy. HHS issued this final rule after hearing from communities that changes were needed to better protect patient confidentiality and prevent medical records from being used against people for providing or obtaining lawful reproductive health care. The final rule strengthens the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule by prohibiting the disclosure of protected health information (PHI) where the PHI is sought for use against any person for merely seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating lawful reproductive health care. The Office of...