What happened?

On February 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health, and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a definitive version of Special Publication 800-66 Revision 2, “Implementing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule: A Cybersecurity Resource Guide.”

What are the details?

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and NIST issued new guidance to provide information and serve as a resource for HIPAA-regulated entities to improve cybersecurity and compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule.

This publication provides practical guidance and resources that can be used by regulated entities of all sizes to safeguard electronic protected health information (ePHI) and better understand the security concepts discussed in the HIPAA Security Rule.

• The rule requires regulated entities to implement reasonable and appropriate security measures to safeguard, including protecting against reasonably anticipated cybersecurity threats or vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI.
• The new guidance is designed to be used in whole or in part to help improve cybersecurity and assist with achieving compliance with the Security Rule.

The new guidance highlights that “the Security Rule is flexible, scalable, and technology-neutral…there is no one single compliance approach that will work for all regulated entities.”

Business Considerations

• The guidance presents various security measures for each standard of the Security Rule with tables designed to implement the requirements of the Security Rule.
• The guide provides an overview of the HIPAA Security Rule for covered entities, guidelines associated with conducting a risk assessment, risk management guidelines, and considerations when applying the Security Rule.
• Because the HIPAA Security Rule is flexible by design, there is no standard or single approach for a HIPAA-covered entity to achieve and maintain HIPAA Security Rule compliance, meaning that there is not a one-size-fits-all document to ensure Security Rule compliance.

Resources

• NIST Special Publication 800-66r2: Implementing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule: A Cybersecurity Resource Guide
• HHS FAQs

Source References

• HHS Office for Civil Rights Publishes Cybersecurity Resource for HIPAA Implementation (Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP.)
• Federal Regulators Unveil Revised Final Guidance for Healthcare Cybersecurity and HIPAA Compliance (Ogletree Deakins)
• New Cybersecurity Guide Released (Saul Ewing LLP)

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