OCR Guidance

New OCR Guidance for Health Care Providers and Consumers on the HIPAA Privacy Rule and Communications with a Patient’s Family, Friends, or Others Involved in the Patient’s Care

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has provided two websites containing HIPAA Privacy Rule guidance documents – one for health care providers and one for consumers – that discuss when a health care provider may share a patient’s health information with the patient’s family, friends, or others involved in the patient’s care.These sites answer common questions about The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule and The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (PSQIA) Patient Safety Rule.

Click to view HHS Covered Entities Information

Click to view HHS Patient Information