Privacy Standards' Comment Period Reopens, Effective Dates Delayed - Department of Health and Human Services - Brief Article

Healthcare Financial Management, April, 2001

In an unusual move, HHS reopened the comment period on the highly controversial Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) final privacy standards. HHS announced the special 30-day comment period in the February 28, 2001, Federal Register, which means that the deadline for comments is March 30.

The announcement comes on the heels of HHS's notice in February 26, 2001, Federal Register, moving the standards' effective date back from February 26 to April 14, 2001. The notice codified the finding of HHS officials that a delay was necessary due to an error in the way the regulations were reported to Congress. The standards themselves were published in the December 28, 2000, Federal Register. (It should be noted that the delay in the effective date is not a result of President Bush's executive order placing a hold on recent regulations or the lobbying effort by some industry groups to modify the standards. It did, however, provide an opportunity for HHS to reopen the comment period.)

It is possible that the new comments will cause HHS to postpone the effective date still further. However, HHS has not indicated that it intends to announce any further delay, and healthcare financial managers therefore should proceed with developing their implementation plans as though another delay will not occur.

Questions about the situation can be sent to the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the body charged with overseeing the privacy standards, by e-mail at ocrprivacy@os.dhhs.gov or by calling the OCR privacy hotline, (866) 627-7748. Information and resources also are available on HFMA's HIPAA Web page, http://www.hfma.org/kn/hipaa.htm.>

COPYRIGHT 2001 Healthcare Financial Management Association

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group