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STHC-L: The Science, Technology and Health Care Archives Forum
[Previous Posting] [Next Posting] Recent DHHS|HIPAA ruling
A colleague passed this along to me last week from the Dept. of Health and Human Services. Perhaps it will give some relief to those libraries with ultra-conservative risk management outlooks. April 18--"At present, our compliance and enforcement activities are primarily complaint-based. Although our enforcement efforts are focused on investigating complaints, they may also include conducting compliance reviews to determine if a covered entity is in compliance. When potential violations come to our attention through a complaint or a compliance review, (we attempt) to resolve the matter informally. Many such matters are resolved at the initial stage of contact. However, even where a matter is not resolved at this initial stage and the investigation continues, the matter can still be resolved through voluntary compliance (for example, by means of a corrective action plan); and (we) may provide technical assistance to help the covered entity achieve compliance. Resolving issues through such informal means is often the quickest and most effective means of ensuring that the benefits of the HIPAA rules are realized. However, if we are unable to obtain compliance effectively on matters within our jurisdiction through voluntary means, we may seek to impose civil money penalties. Moreover, matters subject to criminal penalties are referred to the Department of Justice." John John P. Rees, MA, MLIS Curator, Archives and Modern Manuscripts History of Medicine Division National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20894 Phone: 301.496.8953 Fax: 301.402.7034 ____________________________________________________________ STHC-L - Science, Technology, and Health Care Archives Forum STHC-L@lists.ucla.edu http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sthc-l STHC-L@lists.ucla.edu STHC-L Archives -- Main Index STHC-L Archives -- 2005 Message Index |