Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the department’s secretary moved the administration and enforcement of The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services to the Office of Civil Rights. Enacted in 1996, HIPAA established federal standards for protecting individual’s health information and ensuring patient privacy. HHS officials made the transfer to “eliminate duplication and increase efficiencies in how the department ensures that Americans’ health information privacy is protected.” CMS will maintain authority for administration and enforcement of the HIPAA Administrative Simplification regulations, other than privacy and security of health information. Learn more about the transfer.  Article reprinted from the Future of Aging Blog. 

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