Reminder: HIPAA Privacy Notice Deadline Nears

(Published March 16, 2009)

 

Reprinted from PERSONNEL LEGAL ALERT, a widely read employment law newsletter that keeps HR executives
up-to-date on the latest court cases, legal trends, government regulations, and federal legislation
that affect the policies you write and procedures you administer. 
Click here to get more information, or sign up for a risk-free subscription. 

 

Under the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Privacy Rule, covered health plans were required to deliver a privacy notice to plan participants by April 14, 2003, for large entities (i.e., plans with annual receipts exceeding $5 million) and by April 14, 2004, for small entities (i.e., plans with annual receipts of $5 million or less).  Thereafter, health plans are required to remind participants of the availability of the privacy notice, as well as how to obtain a copy, no less frequently than once every three years. 

Large entities that haven't provided this reminder since April 14, 2006, have until April 14, 2009, to do so; small entities that haven't provided a reminder since April 14, 2007, have until April 14, 2010.

The Department of Health and Human Services provides these methods for meeting the reminder requirement:

• mailing a copy of the actual privacy notice;
  
  
• mailing a reminder concerning the availability of the privacy notice and information on how to obtain a copy; or
  
  
• including a reminder in a plan-produced newsletter or other publication.

A plan satisfies its obligation by furnishing the reminder to the "named insured"; the reminder does not have to be sent to spouses and dependents.

Heads up: Health plans may have already satisfied the reminder requirement if they:

• adopted the practice of sending the privacy notice to plan participants annually;
  
  
• recently, substantially amended their privacy notice, and, thus, sent the revised privacy notice to participants; or
  
  
• included information regarding the availability of the privacy notice in annual communications sent to participants. 

 

Related Topic(s):