April 2003

Information Bulletin 03-7
All Providers

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Information and Resources

On October 11, 2002, the Director of the Survey and Certification Group at CMS, issued a memo to the Associate Regional Administrator, Division of Medicaid and State Operations, Region I-X and State Survey Agency Directors, that included important information about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rules, with regard to the state survey agencies. The following information is a direct quote from that memo:

"HIPAA and the State Survey Agencies. We have been advised that our State Survey Agencies are getting inquiries from providers and others asking what the state's role is in ensuring facility compliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the privacy requirements. We wish to clarify that the State Survey Agencies have no role whatsoever in enforcing HIPAA. Further, the State Survey Agency's authority to access personal health information on Medicare/Medicaid surveys is not diminished in the least by HIPAA.

CMS is responsible for enforcing HIPAA's Administrative Simplification provisions and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), another agency under the DHHS umbrella, is responsible for enforcement of the Privacy standards in HIPAA. If you or your members have any questions about HIPAA's Administrative Simplification provisions, please contact Rachel Klugman, CMS/RO V's HIPAA Coordinator at 312-886-5352 or go online to the CMS website at: Privacy and Security Information.

Questions about the Privacy Provisions of HIPAA should be addressed to the Office for Civil Rights. OCR's RO V contact on privacy is David Mayer, who can be reached at 312-886-5904, or go to OCR's website at: HHS Office for Civil Rights.

On March 14, 2003, the Director of the Survey and Certification Group issued a memo to Survey and Certification Regional Office Management (G-5) and State Survey Directors that contains updated information regarding the HIPAA Privacy Rule. You may read and print the text of this memo at Review of Protected Health Information and Applicability of Business Associate Agreements Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for the Purposes of Survey and Certification (PDF).

HIPAA Resources

CMS offers several types of resources for information on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA):

Website: HIPAA and Administrative Simplification
A free video: Call (866) 282-0659 or email: askhipaa@cms.hhs.gov
HIPAA Hotline: (866) 627-7748
Email questions to: askhipaa@cms.hhs.gov

If you have any questions regarding this information Bulletin, please contact in writing:

Minnesota Department of Health
Health Regulation Division
Licensing and Certification Program
85 East Seventh Place, Suite 300
PO Box 64900
St. Paul, Minnesota 55164-0900
Telephone: (651) 201-4200