On March 17, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services announced, effective immediately, that it will exercise its enforcement discretion and will waive potential penalties for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations against health care providers that serve patients through everyday communications technologies during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency.
The exercise of discretion applies to widely available communications apps, such as FaceTime or Skype, when used in good faith for any telehealth treatment or diagnostic purpose, regardless of whether the telehealth service is directly related to COVID-19. A covered health care provider that wants to use audio or video communication technology to provide telehealth to patients during this public health emergency can use any nonpublic-facing remote communication product. OCR states that Facebook Live, Twitch, TikTok, and similar video communication applications that are public facing should not be used in the provision of telehealth by covered health care providers.
Health care providers may wish to consider asking patients to sign a separate consent form for telemedicine acknowledging that telemedicine has some limitations.
For more information, please contact CCB Law.