On February 21, 2024, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a report entitled, Strengthening Health Data Privacy for Americans: Addressing the Challenges of the Modern Era. Senator Cassidy previously requested information from stakeholders on ways to improve the privacy of health data under existing Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protections, and additional privacy protections that should be considered. The report builds on stakeholder recommendations and outlines several strategies to improve privacy protections of health data, such as modernizing HIPAA, securing data outside of HIPAA protections, and handling data in a HIPAA “gray area,” such as health data gathered from wearable devices. In the report, Senator Cassidy committed to advancing legislation that encompasses these recommendations to advance patient privacy and modernize HIPAA as health care technologies continue to change.

The brief is available here.

Impact on General Dentistry: As health care technology evolves, health care data privacy and protections must keep up. AGD will monitor any legislation, regulations, or other efforts to change HIPAA and their implications on dental practice operations.