Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Data/Lists
    • Rankings/Lists
    • Interactive Databases
    • Data Points
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Transformation Summit
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Virtual Health
    • - Future of Healthcare Staffing
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • MORE +
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Information Technology
April 15, 2020 07:29 PM

HIPAA public health details pushed by data advisory group

Jessica Kim Cohen
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Getty Images/Blend Images

    Clarifying whether certain types of data-sharing are allowed under HIPAA proved a major theme at a COVID-19 pandemic response hearing convened by the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee on Wednesday.

    The day-long hearing replaced the advisory group's monthly meeting for April.

    More than a dozen representatives from healthcare providers, health information exchanges, software vendors and federal agencies at the virtual meeting presented on how they've been addressing the novel coronavirus, as well as challenges they've faced, to help inform HITAC's policy recommendations to HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

    A resounding theme involved clarifying what information can be shared for public health disclosures under HIPAA, the federal law restricting release of medical information.

    Debbie Condrey, chief information officer of healthcare interoperability not-for-profit the Sequoia Project, urged HHS to standardize data that HIPAA-covered entities are expected to disclose for public health during the COVID-19 emergency.

    Under HIPAA, covered entities are required to include only the "minimum necessary" amount of medical data when sharing information for public health. Determining how much information that entails can be challenging for providers, and on the local level states have different public health reporting requirements from one another.

    Condrey suggested HHS specify that submitting data from the Consolidated-Clinical Document Architecture—a set of templates and standards for data exchange—or equivalent electronic documents meets that minimum necessary threshold. HHS already encourages organizations to use CCDA to fulfill requirements for the Promoting Interoperability Programs, formerly known as meaningful use.

    "Provider organizations must abide by the HIPAA minimum necessary requirements for public health disclosures, and they need assurance that clinical data contained in C-CDAs and other electronic documents can be released for public health purposes," Condrey said.

    Others suggested HHS establish sources like the ONC's U.S. Core Data for Interoperability—a standardized, but limited, set of data elements—as meeting the minimum necessary threshold.

    Setting a standard at the national, rather than state, level could help to streamline data-sharing for healthcare organizations reporting information for public health.

    Waiting on states to set this guidance is a "very inefficient approach," said Dr. Steven Lane, clinical informatics director for privacy, information security and interoperability at Sutter Health and a member of HITAC. "I hope that ONC will continue to do everything they can to support HHS in developing some guidance in that area."

    Clarifications into HIPAA might extend past the ONC's authority, as HHS' Office for Civil Rights is the agency tasked with enforcing HIPAA. But attendees urged the ONC to capitalize on its role as a coordinator for health IT across agencies.

    "This problem of the politics and fear of HIPAA is killing us," said Dr. Clem McDonald, director of the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications at the National Library of Medicine and a member of HITAC.

    HHS has already unveiled notable HIPAA flexibilities in recent weeks.

    Earlier this month, the Office for Civil Rights said it wouldn't impose penalties on business associates that offer "good-faith" disclosures of protected health information for public health purposes during the COVID-19 emergency, even if the company isn't expressly permitted to do so by the HIPAA-covered entity it works with.

    More flexibilities under HIPAA could be helpful, said Arien Malec, senior vice president of research and development at Change Healthcare and a member of HITAC.

    To ensure the OCR's announcement of enforcement discretion has "the maximal effect," Malec suggested the agency release additional guidance allowing business associates who aren't directly contracting with a HIPAA-covered entity to still be able to disclose information for public health purposes, as long as they subsequently notify the covered entity.

    "A number of us are struggling with interpreting or putting into practice the existing guidance, because it notes—or it assumes—that there's a direct connection between the business associate and the covered entity," he said. "In many cases, business associates are business associates to other business associates."

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Allscripts logo_i copy_i.png
    Allscripts new CEO looking for payer, life sciences acquisitions
    technology
    Task force to review standards for ONC-certified tech
    Sponsored Content
    Health IT Strategist (HITS) Newsletter: Sign up for the latest IT and medical technology news delivered 3 days a week (M, W, F).
     
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Data/Lists
      • Rankings/Lists
      • Interactive Databases
      • Data Points
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top 25 Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Transformation Summit
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Virtual Health
        • - Future of Healthcare Staffing
      • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • MORE +
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing