Health Information Management

HHS advised to expand types of covered entities

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, July 16, 2007

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The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics has recently advised HHS to expand the definition of HIPAA covered entities because many new entities essential to the operation of the Nationwide Health Information Network fall outside HIPAA's statutory definition of "covered entity." For example, health information exchanges, regional health information organizations, record locator services, community access services, fitness clubs, home testing laboratories, massage therapists, nutritional counselors, "alternative" medicine practitioners, urgent care facilities, and medical records banks do not currently fall under HIPAA regulations.

The Committee recommended in the letter that HHS and Congress "move expeditiously to establish laws and regulations that will ensure that all entities that create, compile, store, transmit, or use personally identifiable health information are covered by a federal privacy law."

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