August 23, 2002

The U.S. Department of Health and HumanServices published last week the final modifications to the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the first-ever comprehensive federal regulations that give patients sweeping protections over the privacy of their medical records and information. The recent amendments, announced Aug. 14 by the Bush administration, make important changes to the HIPAA regulations that will go into effect April 2003.

According to Eileen Bryan, MGH project manager for HIPAA, the final regulations strike an important balance between patients' right to privacy and caregivers' ability to provide quality health care. "The final regulations provide patients a strong foundation of federal protections for their personal medical information while allowing them to share information with their doctors, hospitals and others who provide their care without any new bureaucratic barriers to receiving quality care," says Bryan.

The most important change to the final regulations is the elimination of a written patient consent to allow clinicians to use protected health information for treatment, payment or health care operations. "Requiring a written consent would have prevented anyone who did not sign the consent from obtaining treatment," says Bryan. "In place of a written consent, the regulation now requires only that health care providers obtain a written acknowledgement of receipt of the patient's notice of privacy practices. The MGH HIPAA Advisory Council believes that this modification was very important in making sure we weren't creating greater hardships or bureaucracy for our patients as they seek prompt, high-quality health care."

For more information about the final HIPAA regulations, MGHers can visit the U.S. Health and Human Services website at www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa For more information about the MGH patient privacy policies, call Bryan at (617) 726-6360.