The HHS OCR Newsletter announced that the Office for Civil Rights has released a HIPAA resource document for healthcare providers on educating patients about telehealth and the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI). This resource document provides suggestions for discussing topics with patients, such as telehealth options offered, risks to PHI when using remote communications technologies, privacy and security practices of remote communication technology vendors, and applicability of civil rights laws. 

Overall, the resource document aims to help increase HIPAA compliance while expanding the use of telehealth. 

OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer stated, “Telehealth is a wonderful tool that can increase patients’ access to health care and improve health care outcomes. Health care providers can support telehealth by helping patients understand privacy and security risks and effective cybersecurity practices so patients are confident that their health information remains private.”

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