NARCA Declares HIPAA Victory

The National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys (NARCA) today claimed victory in its effort to protect collection attorneys and their healthcare clients from potentially challenging healthcare privacy regulations proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) as part of the Privacy Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). As initially proposed, the regulations effectively could have precluded some healthcare providers from resorting to litigation in order to collect unpaid bills.

"The guidance addressed in the final Privacy Rule clarifies that Covered Entities (and their Business Associate collection attorneys) may disclose minimally necessary protected health information as required by law AND as permitted by other law. Hence, attorneys that collect healthcare debt in states that merely permit plaintiffs to attach bills to their pleadings may now properly attach the healthcare bills to the pleadings in order to proceed to judgment while collecting the healthcare debt" said Adam Olshan, NARCA's President.

The Privacy Rule initially permitted underlying bills to be attached to the pleadings only where such practice was "required" by law. Most states merely "permit" such practice and NARCA acted to identify this to the DHHS at a public hearing and by filing a position paper. "This final Privacy Rule is fair in this regard as the initial draft Rule would have had a consequence that was certainly not intended by lawmakers. We're happy that NARCA was able to make itself heard for the benefit of collection attorneys and our healthcare clients," said Olshan.

Founded in 1993, the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys (NARCA) is a 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to serving law firms engaged in the business of retail debt collection. For more information contact Kevin Brosnahan, Public Relations Manager at 202-861-0706 or Kevin@narca.org.