The HIPAA Privacy Policy allows the disclosure of protected health information when expressly required by another law, when the request is made “through legal proceedings such as a court order or court order” and if disclosure is necessary to prevent a health or safety threat; said the guidance.
The new privacy guidance provided examples of situations in which providers may challenge their responsibility for protected health information, such as whether a provider suspects a patient had an abortion, whether patient information is requested by law enforcement and whether a patient tells a provider that he plans to look for an abortion elsewhere.
“Many patients,” the agency said, were concerned that data stored on personal devices and linked to things like period tracking applications could be used against them. The new guidance argues that, in general, HIPAA does not protect data like this and provides suggestions on how this data can be protected individually. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra pledged on Tuesday to protect access to reproductive healthcare, including considering measures to increase access to medical abortion. Besera told a news conference that the department would seek to increase access to medical abortion nationwide and work with the Office of Civil Rights to protect patient and provider privacy. He also said that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would “take every legally available step” to protect access to family planning care.
“There is no magic bullet, but if there is something we can do, we will find it and do it on HHS,” Becerra said. “Indeed, that was the directive I received from the President of the United States.”
Describing the Supreme Court ruling as “hateful”, the secretary said it “unknowingly endangered the lives and health of millions of our fellow Americans.”
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.
