The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today issued guidance meant to better protect women’s health information as state abortion bans kick in after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Despite the HHS actions, women may still wonder whether their health information is entirely safe going forward — a potential challenge for the creators of digital health software.
The new HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) guidance addresses when the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule permits disclosure of PHI without an individual’s authorization. Its release comes amid calls on social media for women to delete period tracking apps. (The New York Times, however, reports that the opposite is happening, with a Berlin-based period-tracking app company called Clue saying it would not comply with U.S. law enforcement seeking information.)
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