IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR O&P LIST SERVE MEMBERS
REGARDING HIPAA ENFORCEMENT POLICY
The April 14, 2003 privacy deadline has passed, and you may now be
wondering about the government’s enforcement policy for the privacy
regulations. Although you may have read some information that might scare
you, the director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the entity charged
with the enforcement of the HIPAA privacy regulations, has repeatedly
emphasized VOLUNTARY compliance. Contrary to rumor, there are no HIPAA
enforcement police!
On April 17, 2003, OCR published what has become known as the HIPAA
“Enforcement Rule.†It is actually what is called an “Interim Final Rule,â€
and it is the first installment of enforcement rules for the HIPAA Privacy
Rule. Its purpose is to describe when OCR will impose civil monetary
damages for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Importantly, it is also a
statement of OCR’s approach to enforcement of the Privacy Rule.
Enforcement of the regulations is complaint-oriented. Attorney Rick
Campanelli, director of OCR, has stated, on a variety of occasions, that his
office seeks to promote voluntary compliance with technical and
informational support. The OCR web site now has answers to 190 questions
related to the Privacy Rule. You can access this information t:
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/hipaa2.
It is certainly true that all complaints that are filed with OCR will be
investigated. Nevertheless, as stated by Attorney Campanelli, OCR expects
that most complaints can be resolved quickly, efficiently, and informally.
Even after the complaint process has begun, OCR will provide education and
technical support to enable the entity to come into compliance with the
regulations. Thus, compliance is mandatory, but the government’s policy is
to promote voluntary compliance as the most efficient way to promote privacy
and as “the right thing to do†in order to promote the integrity of the
healthcare system and to protect the privacy of personal health information.
Sheila M. Press, JD, MBA
Healthcare Compliance Solutions, Inc.
13653 East Aster Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85259
Phone: 480-767-9477
Fax: 480-614-8782
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.hccsolutions.com
