 Health Care |
Health Care |
|
|
HHS's final rule on protecting abortion records |
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its final draft of a post-Dobbs rule protecting patient records from being used to potentially prosecute patients who receive reproductive health services like abortions. |
The finalized "HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy" bars providers, clearing houses and their business associates covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) from disclosing protected health information to aid an investigation of patients who receive legal reproductive health care.
According to HHS's Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer, the rule takes into account that many people are now having to travel out-of-state to receive abortion care and is designed to protect their records.
Providers in states where abortion is banned with patients who received abortion care out of state are protected by the rule with the assumption that the care was legal. A patient's providers, whether out-of-state and in-state, can deny records requests if the services received were legal.
This rule, however, only applies in states where abortion remains legal, and it lacks provisions that Democratic lawmakers had asked for such as adding a warrant requirement for obtaining these sorts of records.
These records remain under the provisions of HIPAA, meaning they could still be obtained by a court order or if a subpoena meets a required number of conditions.
During the press briefing announcing the rule on Monday, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra was frank about the limitations of his department's authority.
"We have no illusion that everything that the president has urged us to do with our authorities is going to undo Dobbs," said Becerra. "Dobbs took away rights. Until we have a national law that re-institutes Roe v. Wade, we're going to have issues. But that doesn't stop us from doing everything we can to protect every American's right to access the care they need and to have the privacy they need." |
Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. |
|
|
How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: |
|
|
Nursing homes will be required to have minimum levels of front-line caregivers for the first time or face financial penalties under a new requirement the Biden administration announced Monday. The final policy, unveiled by Vice President Harris, comes despite intense lobbying from the nursing home industry and opposition from bipartisan lawmakers, who argue a federal standard is unfeasible because of a nationwide staffing … |
| |
| This story is part of a series, "Fighting 'Forever Chemicals': Women face pervasive PFAS risks." Cancer-linked "forever chemicals" got their moniker because of how long they linger without breaking down — in the environment and the human body. Menstruation can provide a way of shedding at least some of the compounds, however. "Some PFAS bind strongly to proteins in blood, and when women menstruate, they lose those blood proteins … |
| |
|
Arizona state House Speaker Ben Toma (R) is facing a reckoning as he tries to navigate the fallout from Arizona’s Supreme Court decision enforcing an 1864 abortion ban. Since the decision last week, Toma has twice helped block House Democrats' efforts to repeal the ban on procedural grounds. Toma is facing pressure from national Republicans, including former President Trump and Kari Lake, who want to see … |
| |
|
Branch out with a different read: |
|
|
The pandemic exposed staff shortages at nursing homes. A new White House push aims for a remedy |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday said the first rule to set minimum staffing levels at federally funded nursing homes and require that a certain portion of the taxpayer dollars they receive go toward wages for care workers is a long-overdue "milestone" that recognizes their value to society. Harris announced the … | |
|
Local and state headlines on health care: |
- Texas families could lose at-home nursing under stricter Medicaid rule (Texas Tribune)
- Group launches effort to explore ballot initiative restoring abortion access in Idaho (Spokesman-Review)
- Improving New Yorker's health in new state budget (NEWS10)
|
|
|
Health news we've flagged from other outlets: |
- Influencers love Ozempic—but they aren't telling you about the risks (The Wall Street Journal)
- Some older women need extra breast scans. Why won't Medicare pay? (The New York Times)
- Supreme Court to consider clash of Idaho abortion ban with federal law for emergency care (CBS News)
|
|
|
Most read stories on The Hill right now: |
|
|
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he wants to put the “U.S. budget on blockchain,” a ledger of transactions … Read more |
| The first-ever criminal trial of a current or former U.S. president is underway in Manhattan, renewing questions over what a potential conviction would … Read more |
|
|
Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill: |
|
|
You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
1625 K Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 |
Copyright © 1998 - 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
|
If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please safely unsubscribe.
No comments:
Post a Comment