On April 18, 2005 the Department published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register which proposes the bases and procedures for imposing civil money penalties on covered entities that violate any of the HIPAA Administrative Simplification Rules.   Comments from the public are requested, and are due by June 17.  The NPRM is entitled:  Civil Money Penalties: Policies and Procedures for Investigations, Imposition of Penalties, and  Hearings
The full text of the NPRM is at:
 
 
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-7512.pdf
 
 
SUMMARY OF THE NPRM: The Secretary of Health and Human Services is proposing rules for the imposition of civil money penalties on entities that violate rules adopted by the Secretary to implement the Administrative Simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-191 (HIPAA).   The proposed rule would amend the existing rules relating to the investigation of noncompliance to make them apply to all of the HIPAA Administrative Simplification rules, rather than exclusively to the privacy standards.  It would also amend the existing rules relating to the process for imposition of civil money penalties.  Among other matters, the proposed rules would clarify and elaborate upon the investigation process, bases for liability, determination of the penalty amount, grounds for waiver, conduct of the hearing, and the appeal process.
 
 
The above information is from a message from the HIPAA-Regs listserv, maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services.  This is an announce only listserv, the purpose of which is to provide information on regulations regarding the HIPAA Administrative Simplification provisions.
 
Information on subscribing or unsubscribing can be found at:
 
http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/lsnotify.htm 

HIPAA Enforcement NPRM is published in the Federal Register, volume 70, number 73, 18 April 2005, pages 20223-20258. When this rule is finalized, it will revise the Interim Final Rule on the same topic published on 17 April 2003 and extended on 15 September 2004.

The url to the HIPAA Enforcement NPRM listed above may have wrapped.  For your convenience the url has been added to the ShareHIPAA group's Links.  To access the ShareHIPAA group's Links, visit the ShareHIPAA group's home page at

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ShareHIPAA

Enter your Yahoo! ID and password and select "Links" from the left column.  The listing for the link of the HIPAA Enforcement NPRM appears like this:

45 CFR Parts 160 and 164 HIPAA Administrative Simplification; Enforcement; Proposed Rule
HIPAA Enforcement Proposed Rule April 18, 2005

Regards,

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