On Aug. 9, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the final medical privacy rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The final rule excludes a mandatory patient written consent requirement. Instead, patients will generally be asked to sign or otherwise acknowledge receipt of a privacy notice from providers, according to a preliminary assessment of the rule by the American Hospital Association in Chicago. In addition, HHS dropped the "minimum necessary" provision, which would have prevented doctors and other providers from communicating freely about patient treatment for fear of violating the rule. However, providers must obtain written consent before sending any marketing materials to patients.
The final regulation takes effect April 14, 2003. Look for a detailed examination of the regulation in the October issue of Drug Utilization Review.
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content