New HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices Begin this Month, Are You Ready?

September 23, 2013 is the date that medical practices and other covered entities must update their Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) to patients in order to be compliant with the HIPAA Omnibus rule enacted in March 2013. The new NPP should be posted in each office, on the website if one exists, and should be available as a handout for any patient requesting it. The new notice must include:

• Reasons that Protected Health Information (PHI) can and cannot be disclosed to others.
• Information for opting-out of communication related to fundraising activities, if the provider does any fundraising.
• The ability to restrict PHI from payer disclosure when patients pay in cash instead of having the charges filed with insurance. Information about being contacted if there is a breach of PHI due to unsecured records.
• Expanded rights to electronic copies of medical records (where applicable)