On July 30, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved the Health Information Privacy Reform Act (S.3097), a bipartisan health data privacy bill that would extend privacy protections to health technologies and entities that are not currently covered by HIPAA. The legislation would require covered organizations to disclose how they collect, use, and share consumers’ health information, allow individuals to opt out of health data sharing, and create opportunities for consumers to voluntarily contribute their health information for research purposes and receive compensation for those contributions. The bill would designate the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the primary enforcement agency and direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in consultation with the FTC, to establish privacy, security, and breach notification standards comparable to existing HIPAA protections.
Learn more about the Health Information Privacy Reform Act.
