This post is part of our series on key aspects of the final HITECH omnibus rule issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on January 17, 2013 (available here), and scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on January 25. Previous posts are available here. The regulations are effective March 26, 2013, but covered entities and business associates have until September 23, 2013, to comply with most new requirements.
The HITECH omnibus rule establishes a new standard for determining whether an unauthorized use or disclosure of unsecured protected health information (“PHI”) is a “breach” requiring notification. Under the current Breach Notification Rule, covered entities are required to notify individuals of a breach involving their unsecured PHI, and business associates have a corresponding obligation to notify covered entities. The current rule states that an unauthorized use or disclosure of PHI is a “breach” if it poses a significant risk of financial, reputational, or other harm to the individuals affected.
The omnibus rule replaces the “risk of harm” test with a default presumption that any acquisition, access, use, or disclosure of PHI in a manner not permitted by the HIPAA Privacy Rule is a breach unless the covered entity or business associate “demonstrates that there is a low probability that the [PHI] has been compromised based on a risk assessment.” HHS stated that the omnibus rule establishes a presumption that uses or disclosures of PHI in violation of the Privacy Rule are “breaches” because HHS believes that many covered entities and business associates have construed the existing “risk of harm” standard as setting a higher bar than HHS intended. Covered entities and business associates now have the burden of proving that there is a “low probability” that PHI has been compromised through a risk assessment that accounts for at least the following factors:
- The nature and extent of the PHI involved, including the types of identifiers and the likelihood of re-identification;
- The unauthorized person who used the PHI or to whom the disclosure was made;
- Whether the PHI was actually acquired or viewed; and
- The extent to which the risk to the PHI has been mitigated.
All of these factors must be considered in combination. If a covered entity or business associate determines that an unauthorized use or disclosure of PHI is not a breach, it will need to maintain documentation sufficient to overcome the presumption that PHI was compromised. HHS suggests that these risk assessments allow for a more “objective” evaluation than the current “risk of harm” standard, and plans to provide further guidance on risk assessments that addresses “frequently occurring scenarios.”
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