The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has issued several HIPAA waivers in recent weeks for hospitals in the affected regions as well as issue guidance for those navigating patient privacy issues during a crisis situation. But are such waivers really necessary? In general, healthcare providers already have some flexibility related to HIPAA during crisis situations, says privacy attorney Kirk Nahra. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, HHS found that healthcare organizations were uncertain how the HIPAA Privacy Rule applied to sharing information about individuals.”]
Source: https://www.careersinfosecurity.com/hipaa-privacy-compliance-after-hurricane-a-10324