Model HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices Now Available

New model notices are available to help health plans comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. The Privacy Rule generally requires covered entities, including health plans, to develop and distribute a notice informing individuals of the entity’s privacy practices and of the individual’s privacy rights with respect to his or her personal health information (PHI).

Note: Group health plans providing benefits only through one or more contracts of insurance with issuers or HMOs, and that do not create or receive PHI–other than summary health information or enrollment information–are not required to develop this notice.

The model notices reflect changes made by the HIPAA final omnibus rule that became effective in March. Covered entities were required to revise their notices to reflect those changes by September 23, 2013, and must redistribute the notice as provided in the final omnibus rule. You can visit our HIPAA section for more information.