DHHS Reopens Privacy Rule for Comment

February 26, 2001 -- The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will reopen the final HIPAA Privacy Rule for public comment for 30 days. DHHS Secretary Tommy Thomson announced on February 23rd that an administrative delay extending the effective date of the regulation until April 14, 2001 "creates an opportunity." It is unclear whether the administrative extension and the new 30-day comment period will coincide. The Associate Press reports that the comment period will begin early this week.

The amendment changing the effective date of the rule was published in the Federal Register today. The public comment period was not included in that amendment. [Federal Register notice.]

As HIPAAlert reported last week, and confirmed by DHHS officials at Wednesday's meeting of the NCVHS (National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics), the effective date of the HIPAA Privacy rule has been extended to April 14, due to administrative errors related to the change in administration.

Earlier this month, several provider and payer organizations including the AHA and the BlueCross BlueShield Association (BCBSA) began aggressively lobbying with DDHS to re-open the Privacy rule for more public comment. Speaking during hearings of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the AHA stated that the rule would hinder health care. It called the financial burden "overwhelming," and the compliance schedule "overly aggressive."

STATEMENT BY HHS SECRETARY TOMMY G. THOMPSON

On Dec. 28, 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services published in the Federal Register a final rule creating new federal privacy rights for personal health information. These "Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information" are intended to ensure patients that the privacy of their medical records is secure, and to ensure that this information is used appropriately. This administration is absolutely committed to achieving these goals.

At the same time, under the Congressional Review Act, HHS was legally required to submit this regulation for consideration by the Congress for a 60-day period. Due to an oversight under the prior administration, this requirement was not met. As a result of this oversight, the 60-day period of Congressional review did not begin until Feb. 13, and therefore the effective date of the regulation has been delayed until April 14, 2001.

This legally-required time period is designed to give Congress the opportunity to review the regulation. However, it also creates an opportunity to ensure that the provisions of this final rule will indeed work as intended throughout the complex field of health care, without creating unanticipated consequences that might harm patients’ access to care or the quality of that care. I believe we can protect patient privacy without harming access to health care or the quality of health care.

To ensure a thorough review of these important issues, HHS is opening the final regulation to a 30-day public comment period. The department will review the comments it receives to determine whether changes in the final rule are needed.

Our goal is to achieve privacy protection that works. I believe we should be open to the concerns of all those who care strongly about health care and privacy. And after we hear those concerns, our commitment must be to put strong and effective patient privacy protections into effect as quickly as possible.

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