HIPAA Q&A: Notifying patients about changes to NPP
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, July 5, 2010
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Q. If a Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) is updated, is it necessary to redistribute it to existing patients who are receiving direct care? Must patients sign another Acknowledgement of Receipt form?
A. When covered entities significantly change their NPP, they must notify patients and health plan members that they have done so. They may communicate this information via a newsletter announcement or a notice posted in the waiting area. In a direct care setting, providers are not required to ask patients to sign another Acknowledgement of Receipt form. Notification of the update is sufficient.
Editor’s note: Chris Apgar, CISSP, is president of Apgar & Associates, LLC, in Portland, OR, answered this question. Apgar has more than 17 years of experience in information technology and specializes in security compliance, assessments, training, and strategic planning. He is a board member of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange and chair of the Oregon and Southwest Washington Healthcare, Privacy, and Security Forum.
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