What is the HIPAA Omnibus Rule?

‍

The HIPAA Final Omnibus Rule of 2013 was issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to implement required amendments under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. This Rule strengthens privacy and security protections for individuals’ health information, makes certain other modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Breach Notification, and Enforcement Rules (the HIPAA Rules) improve their workability and effectiveness,  increases flexibility for and decreases the burden on regulated entities. 

The HIPAA Final Omnibus Rule clarified gray areas and fleshed out necessary details in existing HIPAA and HITECH regulations while also establishing new penalties for HIPAA noncompliance.