NEW HIPAA FAQ's FOR FAMILY MEDICAL HISTORY

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has published new HIPAA Privacy Rule frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to family medical history. These FAQs support the roll out of the Surgeon General’s family health history portal, “My Family Health Portrait,” a new version of the web-based tool that enables individuals to electronically record, save and email family medical information in formats that are compatible with electronic health records (EHRs). Individuals using this portal to assemble, download and transmit family history information may have questions about privacy and how family history can be used or shared by health care providers. The new FAQs provide answers to these questions.

These new HIPAA FAQs are available on the OCR Privacy Rule Web Site at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa. For more information on the Surgeon General’s Family History Tool, see the press release http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/01/20090113a.html or visit https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/.