Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HHS Wants To Change HIPAA Rules
Modern Healthcare: HIPAA Changes Shift Mindset From Protecting To Sharing Health Information
HHS' proposed changes to HIPAA will require hospitals to revamp how they respond to record requests, as the proposed rule gives both patients and providers more decision-making power over when and how to disclose health data. HHS' Office for Civil Rights last week proposed a slew of changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act designed to give patients more control over their health data and make it easier for clinicians to share patient data with other providers, insurers and social service agencies for coordinating patient care. (Brady and Kim Cohen, 12/18)
RACmonitor: HHS Unveils Proposed HIPAA Changes
In a landmark move made amid a flurry of other regulatory revisions affecting the healthcare industry, federal officials announced that they are proposing changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA’s) Privacy Rule. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the proposed changes to “support individuals’ engagement in their care, remove barriers to coordinated care, and reduce regulatory burdens on the healthcare industry,” the Department said in a press release. (Spivey, 12/16)
In other health care industry news —
The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals Retreat From Early Covid Treatment And Return To Basics
Doctors are treating a new flood of critically ill coronavirus patients with treatments from before the pandemic, to keep more patients alive and send them home sooner. Last spring, with less known about the disease, doctors often pre-emptively put patients on ventilators or gave powerful sedatives largely abandoned in recent years. The aim was to save the seriously ill and protect hospital staff from Covid-19.Now hospital treatment for the most critically ill looks more like it did before the pandemic. (Evans, 12/20)
Stat: Shaped By War And Hardship, ER Doctor Chronicles Covid-19
As a Marine combat medic in Iraq’s Al-Anbar province, Cleavon Gilman saw bodies torn apart by IEDs. He heard agonizing screams, saw burned flesh and penetrating trauma... He still has PTSD, though he returned from the war 16 years ago. Even so, that experience did not prepare him for the coronavirus. (McFarling, 12/21)
