More than two years in the making, the long-awaited final changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) were published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on January 25, 2013 in the Federal Register. The revisions will become effective on March 26, 2013. In most cases, compliance with the final rules is required by September 23, 2013. Health care attorneys say one of the most significant changes will impact outside entities and vendors who provide services to health See more +

More than two years in the making, the long-awaited final changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) were published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on January 25, 2013 in the Federal Register. The revisions will become effective on March 26, 2013. In most cases, compliance with the final rules is required by September 23, 2013. Health care attorneys say one of the most significant changes will impact outside entities and vendors who provide services to health care providers.

The modifications affect HIPAA covered entities and business associates. Perhaps most significantly, the new rules impose direct liability on persons and entities that are business associates of covered entities and require business associates to comply with certain sections of HIPAA to which they were not previously bound.

This podcast gives an overview of the changes and how they'll affect businesses.

Emily Wey has extensive experience in providing guidance to health care providers on varied operational, transactional, and compliance issues applicable to these entities, from both outside counsel and in-house counsel perspectives. See less -