Urology Coding Alert

Lawmakers are looking at ways to keep HIPAA on pace with technology.

Healthcare apps, fitness trackers, and other personal technology has significantly changed the healthcare landscape and even made patient care easier or more efficient in some ways. Some people — including lawmakers — believe that HIPAA hasn’t kept pace with the onslaught of changes, despite multiple updates to HIPAA rules in recent years.

Possible Changes to Come

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced a new bill in 2019 to better regulate health IT products like fitness trackers and wearables, mobile applications, and more that harness patients’ personal information for marketing and other purposes. The bill suggests that individuals’ data may be used in ways they didn’t realize and promoted on social media without consent by organizations that aren’t covered by HIPAA.

Reminder: As the law works its way to the floor of the Senate, it’s important to remember that the states and other federal laws protect consumers’ privacy, too.

“Just because your health company does not fit squarely within the HIPAA regime, you aren’t excluded from being regulated. Keep in mind applicable state laws like a state’s Consumer Fraud Act,” advises attorney Ciera Logan with Fox Rothschild LLP in the law firm’s HIPAA and Health Information Technology Blog. “Consider obligations to federal regulators like the FTC regarding deceptive consumer practices and FDA’s oversight over medical devices, for example.”

Review the bill at  www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1842/text/.