By Healthcare Facilities Today

New Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, which expand the scope of responsible parties to include vendors who contract with healthcare companies, are set to take effect on March 26. Anyone who "creates, maintains, receives or transmits Protected Health Information," is liable under the new regulations, says a Reuters article.

Announced in January, the new regulations also expand the definition of health-information privacy, make it easier for patients to know there has been a breach and presume any breach will cause harm, putting the burden on the healthcare provider or their associates to prove otherwise, says the article. The original 1996 act treated an incident as a breach only if it would likely harm a patient's finances or reputation, or cause other harm.

Another change to HIPAA is that individual penalties can go as high as $1.5 million per infraction, says the article. Businesses will have until Sept. 23 to comply with the changes.

Read the article.