Texas Court Vacates HIPAA Reproductive Health Privacy Rule

Healthcare privacy attorney Beth Pitman was quoted in a Healthtech Security article discussing the impact of a Texas court's decision to vacate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) reproductive health privacy rule. In his opinion, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas wrote that HIPAA does not authorize the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make distinctions among the types of protected health information (PHI) covered by HIPAA, making the 2024 rule unlawful. Ms. Pitman explained that although removing the rule will likely ease administrative burdens, especially regarding attestations that requests for PHI do not stem from prohibited purposes, healthcare providers have already devoted significant resources to compliance efforts. She also emphasized that covered entities must continue to carefully review record requests for HIPAA and state law compliance as well as pay attention to additional state-level privacy protections.

"The requirement to obtain an attestation prior to responding to such requests was considered by many covered entities to be one of the most burdensome aspects of the rule. The elimination of this requirement will likely be a welcome reduction in administrative burden," she said.

READ: Texas Court Vacates HIPAA Reproductive Health Privacy Rule