[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 10, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 13683-13684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-05021]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary

45 CFR Parts 160 and 164

RIN 0945-AA00


Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support, and Remove 
Barriers to, Coordinated Care and Individual Engagement

AGENCY: Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) 
is extending the comment period for the proposed rule entitled 
``Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to modify the Standards for the Privacy of 
Individually Identifiable Health Information (Privacy Rule) under the 
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and 
the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act 
of 2009 (HITECH Act),'' published in the Federal Register on January 
21, 2021. The comment period for the proposed rule, which would end 
March 22, 2021, is extended to May 6, 2021.

DATES: The comment period for this proposed rule published January 21, 
2021, at 86 FR 6446, is extended to 5 p.m., eastern daylight time, on 
May 6, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments as outlined in the proposed rule at 
86 FR 6446 and repeated below. Please choose only one method listed.
    You may submit comments to this proposed rule, identified by RIN 
0945-AA00 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal. You may submit electronic 
comments at http://www.regulations.gov by searching for the Docket ID 
number HHS-OCR-0945-AA00. Follow the instructions http://www.regulations.gov online for submitting comments through this method.
     Regular, Express, or Overnight Mail: You may mail comments 
to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil 
Rights, Attention: Proposed Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to 
Support, and Remove Barriers to, Coordinated Care and Individual 
Engagement NPRM, RIN 0945-AA00, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Room 509F, 
200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201.
    All comments received by the methods and due date specified above 
will be posted without change to content to http://www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided about the commenter, and 
such posting may occur before or after the closing of the comment 
period.
    The Department will consider all comments received by the date and 
time specified in the DATES section above, but, because of the large 
number of public comments normally received on Federal Register 
documents, the Department is not able to provide individual 
acknowledgments of receipt.
    Please allow sufficient time for mailed comments to be timely 
received in the event of delivery or security delays. Electronic 
comments with attachments should be in Microsoft Word or Portable 
Document Format (PDF).
    Please note that comments submitted by fax or email and those 
submitted after the comment period will not be accepted.
    Docket: For complete access to background documents or posted 
comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID 
number HHS-OCR-0945-AA00.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marissa Gordon-Nguyen at (800) 368-
1019 or (800) 537-7697 (TDD).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department proposed a ``Rulemaking 
(NPRM) to modify the Standards for the Privacy of Individually 
Identifiable Health Information (Privacy Rule) under the Health 
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the 
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 
2009 (HITECH Act),'' to solicit public comments on proposed 
modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to support individuals' 
engagement in their health care, remove barriers to coordinated care, 
and decrease regulatory burdens on the health care industry while 
continuing to protect individuals' health information privacy 
interests. The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) posted the HIPAA 
NPRM on the Federal Register website for public inspection on January 
19, 2021. OFR published the HIPAA NPRM in the Federal Register for 
public comment on January 21, 2021.
    On January 20, 2021, the White House published a memorandum 
``Regulatory Freeze Pending Review'' at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/regulatory-freeze-pending-review/ (the Regulatory Freeze Memorandum). The Regulatory 
Freeze Memorandum directs the heads of Executive Departments and 
Agencies to refrain from issuing new

[[Page 13684]]

proposed or final rules, to withdraw rules pending publication with 
OFR, and to consider postponing for 60 days from the date of the 
memorandum, the effective date of rules already published in the 
Federal Register. The purpose of the memorandum is to implement the 
President's plan to manage the Federal regulatory process at the outset 
of the Administration by providing the opportunity for the President's 
new designees or appointees to review all new and pending rules.
    Because OFR published the HIPAA NPRM prior to the effective 
withdrawal of rules provided for in the memorandum, the HIPAA NPRM 
remains publicly available in the Federal Register and open for public 
comment. However, due to the proximity in time between the publication 
of the HIPAA NPRM and the Regulatory Freeze Memorandum, the public may 
need clarification that the HIPAA NPRM is available for public comment 
and additional time to review the proposals and submit comments.
    Therefore, to maximize the opportunity for the public to provide 
meaningful input to inform policy development, the Department is 
extending the comment period to May 6, 2021.

Norris Cochran,
Acting Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.

[FR Doc. 2021-05021 Filed 3-9-21; 8:45 am]
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