Policy Activity to Monitor: Proposal to Modernize HIPAA;Continuation of COVID-19 Funding for Providers, and Telehealth Guidelines After the Public Health Emergency Period

ABSTRACT

The bill would create a new commission to determine "how to modernize the use of health data and privacy laws to ensure patient privacy and trust while balancing the need of doctors to have information at their fingertips to provide care." The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was created in the 1990s to protect patient and provider interactions, However the law may be seriously outdated as it was written prior to many of the technologies used in patient care and health maintenance today (i.e., smartphones, wearables, telehealth, etc.). Earlier in March, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra signaled that the agency would strive to sustain expanded access to telehealth based on its growing presence and significance in care delivery today.