Texas Governor Rick Perry has signed a healthcare privacy law that goes beyond HIPAA's requirements, GovInfoSecurity reports. Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-District 13) says the push for electronic health records in the HITECH Act's incentive program and the lack of federal HIPAA enforcement spurred the legislation, which will go into effect September 12 and will establish an infrastructure for state oversight and enforcement of healthcare privacy. Meanwhile, Oklahoma's Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's decision barring "state personnel officials from releasing the birthdates of state employees," NewsTimes reports. The court said releasing such information could result in identity theft.
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