HHS extends deadline for privacy rule comment.

Business Insurance, December, 1999 by HOFMANN, MARK A.

WASHINGTON -- Employers and health insurers will have more time to make their thoughts known on the Clinton administration's proposed medical records privacy regulations. The proposals, which appeared in the Nov. 3 Federal Register, would regulate access to electronic medical records. In general, the rules would limit the release of electronic medical data to private parties without a patient's consent and would subject violators to a variety of new -- and often harsh -- civil and criminal penalties.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published the proposed rules after Congress failed to meet a self-imposed deadline under the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act -- HIPAA -- to approve its own privacy rules by Aug. 21. HIPAA...

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