HIPAA.com discussed in its preceding posting this Interim Final Rule (IFR) for “adoption of standards and operating rules for Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) and operating rules for remittance advice…”, as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-148). [124 STAT. 153] The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its regulatory review on January 3, 2012, and the IFR is available for pre-publication review prior to January 10, 2012, when it will be published in the Federal Register. The title of the IFR is: Administrative Simplification: Adoption of Standards for Health Care Electronic Funds Transfers (EFTs) and Remittance Advice. The Summary in the pre-publication…
Tag: Federal Register
IFR for EFT at OMB
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) its Interim Final Rule (IFR) for “adoption of standards and operating rules for Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) and operating rules for remittance advice….” Following the December 15 receipt and subsequent review of the IFR by OMB, the IFR is expected to be published in the Federal Register before January 1, 2012, as required by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-148). [124 STAT. 153] The legal authority for the IFR is Section 1104 (Administrative Simplification) of the Affordable Care Act. Section 1104…
HHS Extends Life of Temporary EHR Technology Certification Program
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a notice in the Thursday, November 3, 2011, Federal Register that extends the life of the “temporary certification program for health information technology” beyond its expected sunset date of December 31, 2011, to at least summer 2012. “We believe that the sunset of the temporary certification programs [ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ATCBs)] should be tied to the effective date of the final rule that we intend to issue in summer 2012, which is expected to adopt new and revised standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for EHR technology in…
HITECH Act Privacy and Security Final Rules Needed Now
Since September 23, 2009, the enforcement arm of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), has been required to publicly disclose breaches involving 500 or more individuals discovered and reported by covered entities and their business associates. As of October 25, 2011, OCR has reported 345 such breaches involving a total of 11,959,488 individuals. Not reflected yet in the OCR disclosed breaches are two involving 6.5 million individuals: a Nemours breach of 1.6 million individuals and a TRICARE breach involving 4.9 million individuals. Together, these two recently reported breaches represent 54.4% of the total number of individuals affected by the publicly disclosed breaches…
HHS Publishes HITECH Act Accounting of Disclosures NPRM
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has published in the May 31, 2011, Federal Register the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) entitled HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (76(104), pp. 31426-31449). This NPRM is available online in pdf. Comments on the NPRM are requested to be submitted on or before August 1, 2011. The Summary of the NPRM with abbreviations, as noted, on p. 31426, is: “HHS is issuing this NPRM to modify the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s standard for accounting of disclosures of protected health information. The purpose of these modifications…
OMB Clears HITECH Act Accounting of Disclosures NPRM
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR), responsible for enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules, will issue a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) to modify the HIPAA Privacy Rule as necessary to implement the accounting of disclosures provisions of Section 13405(c) of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) (Title XIII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009–Public Law 111-5). Section 13405(c) is entitled: Accounting of Certain Protected Health Information Disclosures Required if Covered Entity Uses Electronic Health Record. The NPRM was submitted on February 9, 2011, by HHS to the Office…
Permanent HIT Certification Final Rule Published by ONC in Federal Register
January 7, 2011. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published today in the Federal Register the final rule for Establishment of the Permanent Certification Program for Health Information Technology (HIT), available online. This regulation is effective on February 7, 2011. According to the January 3, 2011, HHS News Release, “[t]he temporary certification program, established through a final rule published on June 24, 2010, will continue in effect until it sunsets on December 31, 2011, or at a later date when the processes necessary for the permanent certification program to operate are completed. ONC expects to stand-up the programmatic…
HHS Pulls Breach Notification Final Rule
The HIPAA Administrative Simplification; Notification in the Case of Breach Final Rule (Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) 0991-AB56) has been at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since May 14, 2010, for Executive Order (EO) 12866 review and approval prior to publication in the Federal Register. On July 28, 2010, HHS “withdrew” this Final Rule, with the following explanation: “The Interim Final Rule for Breach Notification for Unsecured Protected Health Information, issued pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, was published in the Federal Register on August 24, 2009, and became effective on September 23, 2009. During the 60-day public comment period on the…
EHR Incentive and Certification Criteria Final Rules Published in Federal Register
The EHR Incentive and Certification final rules were published in the Federal Register this morning, July 28, 2010. HIPAA.com provides the title, summary, effective date, and URL for each below. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “42 CFR Parts 412, 413, 422, and 495; Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Electronic Health Record Incentive Program; Final Rule, Federal Register, 75(144), Wednesday, July 28, 2010, pp. 44313-44588. Summary: This final rule implements the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)(Public Law 111-5) that provide incentive payments to eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs…
OMB Completes Review of Final Rules for EHR Incentive Program and for Initial Certification Criteria
On Friday, July 9, 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed review of the two Final Rules: Health Information Technology: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record (RIN: 0991-AB58) and Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program (RIN: 0938-AP78). RIN means Regulatory Identification Number, used to track a regulatory action through its development. These rules are on a fast track, follow on the heels of the June 24 Final Rule: Establishment of the Temporary Certification Program for Health Information Technology (75 Federal Register 36157-36209), and are expected to be available for prepublication inspection at the Federal Register imminently. For additional information and updates,…