- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and representatives of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and United Healthcare voiced their support for insurer-developed personal health records at a Capitol Hill briefing yesterday.
- A Health Affairs blogger posted an interesting report on health care transparency viewpoints expressed by speakers at the recent World Health Congress. Among the speakers was OPM Director Linda Springer:
Consumer-driven plans: Office of Personnel Management (OPM) director Linda Springer noted that some 20,000 U.S. government employees are now in high-deductible consumer-driven insurance plans. She expects to see that number rise.
- To celebrate the fourth anniversary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s compliance date (April 13, 2003), the Secretary of Health and Human Services delegated his subpoena authority to the director of the HHS agency responsible for Privacy Rule enforcement, the Office for Civil Rights, and the Department created a new Privacy Rule enforcement web site.