Senators Sound the Alarm on Privacy, Call for HIPAA Update

Wade world demand new protections, they say, calling on HHS to amend the Privacy Rule to ensure that information cannot be shared with law enforcement agencies targeting individuals who seek an abortion. In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on July 1, Senators Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., called on HHS to use its powers to ensure the HIPAA Privacy Rule is better positioned to protect the health information of patients seeking reproductive healthcare. Bennet and Cortez Masto noted that the HIPAA Privacy Rule is meant to "define and limit the circumstances in which an individual’s protected health information may be used or disclosed by covered entities."