In this new age of information technology, protecting patient privacy in health exchanges can be a challenge, writes C. Jason Wang for The Journal of the American Medical Association. Especially under the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Omnibus Final Rule, which expands existing regulations under HIPAA and increases penalties for violations of protected health information. While “the technical challenges can be overcome, the most important hurdles may come from costly, time-intensive efforts needed to comply with regulations on data protection,” Wang writes, adding that in the end, HHS may need to modify its regulations “to keep up with the advent of mobile technologies” and take an “innovation-friendly” approach to privacy. Editor’s Note: For more on grappling with the new components of HIPAA rules, see yesterday’s Privacy Perspectives blog post by Wiley Rein Partner Kirk Nahra, CIPP/US.
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