Healthcare Financial News

Authority for the administration and enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule has been delegated to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). OCR’s administration and enforcement of the Security Rule had previously been delegated to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). OCR has been responsible for enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy Rule since 2003.

The Security Rule specifies a series of administrative, technical, and physical security procedures for covered entities to use to assure the confidentiality of electronic protected health information. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, mandated improved enforcement of the Privacy Rule and the Security Rule.

Through a separate delegation, CMS continues to have authority for administration and enforcement of the HIPAA Administrative Simplification regulations, other than privacy and security of health information.

Read the HHS press release.

The U.S. Census Bureau today published 2006 estimates of health insurance coverage for each of the nation’s counties. Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) are based on models combining data from a variety of sources, including the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey, Census 2000, the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program, the County Business Patterns data set and administrative records, such as aggregated federal tax returns and Medicaid participation records.

Although SAHIE currently is the only source for county-level estimates of health insurance coverage status, the Census Bureau in late September will release for the first time health insurance coverage estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS). These ACS single-year estimates will be available for all geographic areas with total populations of 65,000 or more, including all congressional districts.

Among numerous combinations of age, sex, income and (for states only) race and Hispanic origin, SAHIE includes data on low-income children. SAHIE offers an important snapshot as to the location and characteristics of those with and without health insurance. These data will help local planners make decisions concerning the number of uninsured in special populations. The data pertain only to those younger than 65.