HHS Launches New Video Training Module for HIPAA Patient Right to Access
July 7, 2017
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it has a new video training module for health care providers.
According to HHS, the module provides an “in-depth review of the components of the HIPAA right of access and ways in which it enables individuals to be more involved in their own care.” The module provides helpful suggestions about how health care providers can integrate aspects of the HIPAA access right into medical practice. This activity is intended for primary care physicians, obstetricians and gynecologists, pediatricians, and nurses.Information about training materials can be found on the HHS website here: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/training/index.html. The video module can be found here: http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/876110. The module contains a video (approximately 37 minutes) titled “An Individuals’ Right to Access and Obtain Their Health Information Under HIPAA” and features Devan McGraw, the Deputy Director for Health Information Privacy at the US Department of Health and Humans Services. The video talks about why privacy protections are important, but mainly focuses on the patient’s right of access, including: what fees that can be chargedwhether records may be sent unsecured at the patient’s requesthow quickly the records need to be provided to the patient upon requestwhich records can be excluded from a patient’s right to accesswhether as well as an individual’s ability to have a copy of his/her health information sent directly to a third party.Upon completion of this activity, participants will receive free Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit for physicians and Continuing Education (CE) credit for health care professionals. In order to receive credit, it is required to have a Medscape user ID and password, which is free to sign up. There are no fees for participating in or receiving credit for this CME.