Health Information Management

OCR adds new FAQs on accounting for public health access, more

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, September 5, 2003

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The privacy rule does not require covered entities to account for their disclosures to public health authorities when they have data use agreements with the public health authorities receiving the information, and the only information disclosed is in the form of a limited data set, according to a frequently asked question (FAQ) recently posted on the Office for Civil Rights' (OCR) Web site.

OCR added the following questions:

  • Must a covered entity account for disclosures of a limited data set to a public health authority?

  • Where public health has access to all patient records, must each record be documented for accounting purposes?

  • May a public health authority that will receive a limited data set be a business associate to create it?

  • How can a covered entity account for the date of access if it is not known for certain?

    Go to http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/ and look under "What's New in Privacy" to find the FAQS.



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