New Legislation Aims to Upgrade HIPAA to Account for New Healthcare Technologies

On February 9, 2022, US Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced bipartisan legislation designed to modernize health privacy laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), and account for emerging healthcare technologies not addressed by existing law.

The Act posits that given the proliferation of laws concerning health privacy and new technology, including apps, wearable devices, and social media, and the increase in generating, collecting, using, sharing, and selling PHI, a comprehensive review of existing protections for PHI is necessary. To facilitate such a review, the Act would form a health and privacy commission to conduct research and give official recommendations to Congress on how to reform health privacy laws. The commission would be required to submit its report with its conclusions and recommendations to Congress and the President within six months. The commission would be composed of individuals that represent various viewpoints within healthcare, including providers, health plans, health technology developers, researchers, and consumers.