HIPAA acknowledgments

Reprinted with permission by HcPro. Please check out their premium monthly newsletter Briefings on HIPAA (BOH).

Do HIPAA acknowledgements need to be renewed by patients every year? No. The HIPAA privacy rule requires covered entities to obtain an acknowledgment when they first give their notice of privacy practices to patients. Covered entities do not have to reissue the notice or obtain a new acknowledgment on subsequent visits unless there are material (significant) changes to the notice. If there are significant changes to the notice, the covered entity should provide the new notice to patients as they return for care and obtain a new acknowledgement.

Covered entities that are health plans face an additional requirement every three years to notify individuals covered by the plan of the availability of the notice and how to obtain it.

p.s. I’m headed to Phoenix today to speak at the AICPA National Healthcare Conference. Check out my tweets from the conference at www.twitter.com/rtacpa.