United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-03-31 monographic deposited born digital 30 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-00-85 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-85 P0b002ee18039b2e3 f:he00085 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-85 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-85 HEHS-00-85 Administrative law Health insurance Insurance regulation Employee medical benefits Federal/state relations Health care services Noncompliance State law California Missouri Rhode Island Massachusetts Michigan Letter Report HEHS Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), focusing on: (1) HCFA's progress in enforcing HIPAA and related laws in states lacking conforming statutes; (2) HCFA's role in enforcing HIPAA for state and local government health plans; and (3) the status of pending federal regulations regarding HIPAA's nondiscrimination provisions that restrict health plans from excluding employees, or varying benefits, premiums, or employer contributions, on the basis of health status.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) HCFA has overcome some barriers it had previously identified as contributing to its minimalist approach to enforcing HIPAA and the related laws, including clarifying its regulatory authority and having sufficient staff resources for HIPAA oversight and enforcement; (2) however, nearly 4 years after HIPAA's enactment, HCFA continues to be in the early stages of fully identifying where federal enforcement will be required; (3) to varying degrees, HCFA has assumed regulatory activities, such as reviewing carrier policies and marketing practices, in the three states that had voluntarily notified HCFA of their failure to enforce HIPAA; (4) beyond these activities, HCFA has identified more than 20 states where it questions whether they have conforming laws, but it is still in the process of determining whether these states are enforcing the standards through other regulatory means or whether other states' laws are fully in conformance with the federal standards; (5) agency officials did not provide explicit time periods for completing these reviews, and until they are complete, HCFA is largely reacting to consumers' complaints as a means of fulfilling its statutory mandate; (6) although nearly 600 self-funded state and local government plans have opted out of at least one of the federal standards, HCFA has yet to fully determine its enforcement responsibilities among the remaining nonfederal government plans and is instead relying on complaints from enrollees to identify compliance problems; (7) the final regulations regarding HIPAA's nondiscrimination provisions remain pending and are under review by HCFA, the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Treasury; and (8) anticipated issuance is sometime in the summer of 2000. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-85/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-85.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-85/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-85.pdf GAO/HEHS-00-85 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-00-85 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-00-85; Implementation of HIPAA: Progress Slow in Enforcing; Administrative law Health insurance Insurance regulation Employee medical benefits Federal/state relations Health care services Noncompliance State law California Missouri Rhode Island Massachusetts Michigan