The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) still has not set a date for when the next round of HIPAA audits, originally planned for fall 2014, will take place.
OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels spoke at the 23rd National HIPAA Summit in Washington, DC, recently and confirmed the delay. Linda Sanches, senior advisor for OCR health information privacy, also spoke at the meeting and explained that the audits were delayed to allow healthcare organizations to implement new technology.
The HIPAA audit protocols still are being developed, Sanches said, but they will focus on the privacy, security, and breach notification aspects of HIPAA.
