The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has launched a new training module for providers on patients' right of access under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule.

With limited exceptions, the HIPAA Privacy Rule provides individuals with the right to see and receive copies upon request of the information in their medical and other health records maintained by their health care providers and health plans.

The new module provides an in-depth review of the components of the HIPAA right of access and ways in which it enables individuals to be more involved in their own care. It also provides helpful suggestions about how health care providers can integrate aspects of the HIPAA right of access into their medical practices.

The module is available via Medscape or at OCR's Training and Resources webpage. Physicians can receive 0.5 units of continuing medical education (CME) credit.

For more information on the permitted uses and disclosures of protected health information under HIPAA as well as California law, see California Medical Association (CMA) On-Call document #4205, “Patient Access to Medical Records.” This and other documents in CMA's health law library are free to members in the health law library. Nonmembers can purchase documents for $2 per page.