Agency States Interim Final Rule for Breach Notification Effective Until Further Notice

Caution signOn August 4, we posted about uncertainty created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) decision to withdraw its interim final regulations addressing security breach notification for breaches that involve protected health information (PHI) subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Since that time, HHS updated its website to state that, "[u]ntil such time as a new final rule is issued, the Interim Final Rule that became effective on September 23, 2009, remains in effect." This means that the harm standard embodied in the Interim Final Rule is still in effect and that, until further notice, employers and providers must conduct the risk assessment discussed in our July 30 blog post

This entry was written by Philip L. Gordon.

Photo credit: cosmonaut

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