Feds Seek Input on PHR Privacy

The Department of Health and Human Services and Federal Trade Commission will hold a day-long roundtable discussion on Dec. 3 at FTC headquarters in Washington to solicit industry input on privacy and security requirements for personal health records and related service providers.


The Department of Health and Human Services and Federal Trade Commission will hold a day-long roundtable discussion on Dec. 3 at FTC headquarters in Washington to solicit industry input on privacy and security requirements for personal health records and related service providers.

HHS has enforcement jurisdiction for the health care breach notification rule mandated under the HITECH Act for HIPAA covered entities. The FTC has jurisdiction for breaches by non-HIPAA covered entities, particularly vendors of personal health records and online applications that interact with PHRs.

The event will include four panel discussions of researchers, legal scholars and industry stakeholders. "It will address the current state and evolving nature of PHRs and related technologies (including mobile technologies and social networking), consumer and industry expectations and attitudes toward privacy and security practices, and the pros and cons of different approaches to the requirements that should apply to non-covered entity PHRs and related technologies," according to an HHS notice.

David Blumenthal, M.D., national coordinator for health information technology; and Joy Pritts, HHS chief privacy officer, will make comments during the roundtable. More information and registration for the free event are available here. The roundtable also will be accessible via a live Web cast. HHS further will solicit additional input via a public comment period that will start in November.

--Joseph Goedert

 

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