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Office for Civil Rights - HIPAA

Medical Privacy - National Standards to Protect
the Privacy of Personal Health Information

What's New | Background and General Information | Privacy Regulation | Technical Assistance
News 2002 | News 2001 | News 2000 | Other Relevant Sites


Items Previously Posted under What's New

April 2003

  • OCR posts its health information privacy complaint fact sheet and complaint form in Spanish/en Espaņol - other languages coming soon. - 04/29/03
  • HHS' National Institute of Health publishes "Protecting Personal Health Information in Research: Understanding the HIPAA Privacy Rule" (Adobe PDF format), describing how the Privacy Rule applies to research. [PDF - 4.2 MB] - 04/17/03
      Please note: While we are working on a version that will be easier to download, we wanted to make the information available.
  • Interim final rule: Civil Money Penalties: Procedures for Investigations, Imposition of Penalties, and Hearings. [PDF] [DOC] - 04/17/03
  • Privacy Guidance about Authorizations for Research and Institutional Review Boards [PDF] - 04/16/03
  • OCR announces a new fact sheet - How to File a Health Information Privacy Complaint with the Office for Civil Rights, along with a new Health Information Privacy Complaint Form. OCR will accept written complaints regarding alleged Privacy Rule violations that occurred on or after April 14, 2003. - 04/11/03
  • OCR posts Summary of HIPAA Privacy Rule. This is a summary of key elements of the Privacy Rule - 04/11/03
    • OCR Summary of HIPAA Privacy Rule in [RTF] | [PDF]
  • Statement by Tommy G. Thompson Secretary of Health and Human Services Regarding New Federal Privacy Regulations
    Press Release - 04/11/03
  • CDC and HHS issue new guidance about the HIPAA Privacy Rule and Public Health [PDF] - 04/11/03

March 2003

  • Notice of Addresses for Submission of HIPAA Health Information Privacy Complaints published in Federal Register - 03/20/03
    • Federal Register Notice in [Txt] | [PDF]
  • New FAQs providing answers to questions concerning: - 3/13/03
    • Preemption of State law and requests for preemption exception determinations
    • Disclosure of protected health information to protect against bioterrorism
    • Nursing home reporting of admissions information concerning SSI recipients to SSA


    • All Privacy Rule FAQs, including these new FAQs, are now available at a new location where they can be searched on keywords or by topic.

      To use this new search tool, click the FAQs link below or the Questions? link above right, then:
      • To view all Privacy Rule FAQs, select "Privacy of Health Information/HIPAA" from the Category dropdown list and click the Search button.
      • To view particular FAQs, after selecting "Privacy of Health Information/HIPAA" from the Category dropdown list, either (1) type a keyword(s) in the Search Text field and click the Search button, or (2) select a topic from the Sub-category dropdown list and click the Search button.

      Go to FAQs
  • Notice of Address for Submission of Requests for Preemption Exception Determinations published in the Federal Register. - 3/11/03
    • Federal Register Notice in [Txt] | [PDF]

February 2003

  • HHS Adopts final security standards for protecting individually identifiable health information when it is maintained or transmitted electronically by health plans, certain health care providers and health care clearinghouses.
    Press release Final rule - 2/13/03
  • HHS Adopts final modifications to the transaction standards, which health plans, certain health care providers and health care clearinghouses by law must use for electronic health care transactions.
    Press release Final rule - 2/13/03

January 2003

  • Register now for HHS' National Conferences on the HIPAA Privacy Rule. - 1/27/03
    • The Office for Civil Rights will conduct four conferences to discuss and respond to questions on the Privacy Rule in February and March 2003 in San Diego, Atlanta, New York and Chicago.

December 2002

October 2002

  • Complete Privacy Rule Text, as modified - 10/8/02
    • Complete Regulation Text for Privacy Rule (Parts 160 and 164), as modified (05/31/02, 08/14/02), Unofficial version     [PDF = 2.5M]
      (The Office of the Federal Register publishes the official version of all federal regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).)

August 2002

  • HHS Final Changes to Privacy Rule That Protect Privacy, Access to Care. HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson issues final changes to HHS' health privacy regulations to ensure strong privacy protections while correcting unintended consequences that threatened patients' access to quality health care. - 8/9/02
  • HHS Final Changes to Privacy Rule That Protect Privacy, Access To Care - 8/9/02

April 2002

  • HHS Deputy Secretary Claude A. Allen Testifies Before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on the Proposed Modifications to the Privacy Rule. Read Deputy Secretary Allen's testimony. - 4/16/02

July 2001

  • HHS Issues First Guidance on New Patient Privacy Protections, Press Release [DOC] [HTML] - 7/6/01

April 2001

  • Statement by President George W. Bush [HTML] - 4/12/01
  • Statement by Secretary Tommy G. Thompson [HTML] [DOC] - 4/12/01

February 2001

  • Press Release on Effective Date Delay and 30-Day Public Comment Period [HTML] [DOC] - 2/23/01

December 2000

  • Press Briefing on New Privacy Rule [HTML] - 12/20/00
  • HHS Announces Final Regulation Establishing First-Ever National Standards to Protect Patients' Personal Medical Records, Press Release [HTML] [Word] - 12/20/00
  • White House Statement on Health Information Privacy [HTML] [Word] - 12/20/00
  • Remarks by the President on Medical Privacy [HTML] - 12/20/00


Click on the mailbox to submit a question regarding the Privacy Rule:mailbox image

Last revised: May 15, 2003

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