Nursing homes wondering whether the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s privacy rule will tangle up reports they make to the Social Security Administration can turn the HHS Office of Civil Rights for some answers. In a March 13 update to its HIPAA frequently asked questions Web page, OCR spells out that HIPAA allows “nursing homes and other health care institutions to disclose information concerning admissions of supplemental security income (SSI) recipients to the Social Security Administration.”
Other recent updates to the FAQ address state law preemption and preemption exception determinations. Separately, in a March 11 Federal Register notice, OCR outlined instructions for submitting requests for preemption exception determinations.
To see the FAQ, go to http://answers.hhs.gov/cgi-bin/hhs.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php. To see theFederal Register notice, go to http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a030311c.html.