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The AHA today urged the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights to quickly initiate rulemaking for a legislative provision () enacted by Congress this year to recognize certain recommended security practices when making determinations related to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act audits, fines and resolution agreements.

“The law appropriately recognizes that covered entities and business associates, like all entities including the Federal Government, can never fully eliminate the risk of cyberattacks,” AHA wrote. “When the inevitable attack occurs, entities should not be penalized, but rather treated as the victims of a crime. The law translates this concept by allowing certain measures of regulatory relief if the HIPAA-covered entity or business-associate victim had in place federally recognized security practices, such as those defined under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework and developed under Section 405(d) of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015.”