Health Law Advisor

As much of the Southeastern U.S. continues to recover from the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, health care providers should be aware of, and consider the extent upon which they rely upon, the flexibilities that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extended to assist with the Public Health Emergencies (PHEs) in the affected states. As a result of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, CMS extended additional resources to Medicare providers and certain health care facilities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

As background, during a PHE, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may temporarily waive certain HIPAA Privacy Rule requirements for hospitals.

During the recent PHE, HHS issued HIPAA-related waivers lasting up to seventy-two (72) hours to hospitals located in the declared emergency that had activated their disaster protocol, including waivers for: the distribution of HIPAA privacy notices; patient rights to request privacy restrictions and confidential communications; communications with family or friends involved in care; and, opting out of facility directories. Health Information Privacy PHE responses can be found here.

Recently, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 262 and Senate Bill 264 into law. These new laws grant Floridians greater control over their personal data and establish a new standard for data handling and protection. Senate Bills 262 and 264 take effect on July 1, 2023.