MGMA Concerned About Compliance Period in HIPAA Rule

The Medical Group Management Association has issued first-look comments on the new final rule making changes to the HIPAA privacy, security, breach notification and enforcement rules:

“We are strongly supportive of comprehensive privacy and security standards aimed at avoiding unauthorized use or disclosure of patient health information. However, it is critical that the safeguards mandated by the government be practical, flexible and affordable for the broad spectrum of medical practices.

“We are concerned about the ability of practices to implement the changes associated with this final rule, including the requirement to modify and reissue notices of privacy practices and modify business associate agreements--within the short time frames allotted. We will continue to monitor our member practices to ensure that administrative burdens imposed by the government do not hinder the necessary flow of health information for patient treatment, payment and healthcare operations purposes.”

An article on core provisions of the rules with a link to the rules is available here.