HIPAA Blog

[ Tuesday, October 03, 2006 ]

 

Cert Denied: The US Supreme Court has declined to review the decision of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Citizens for Health v. Leavitt (BNA story -- subscription required - here). In that case, a consortium of health privacy advocacy groups sued the Secretary of HHS to overturn the revision to the original HIPAA Privacy Rule that required consent for any uses. The revision allows the use for "treatment, payment, or healthcare operations" without an explicit consent. As I've stated often enough, without this "tpo" allowance for use, the healthcare industry would grind to a halt -- OK, that's hyperbole, but it would definitely slow down. A pharmacy couldn't fill your prescription and have it waiting for you; a specialist couldn't schedule you for an appointment or look at your chart when your primary care doctor refers you to him until you come to the office and fill out a consent allowing it.

Jeff [10:07 AM]

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