By Elizabeth McElhiney, MHA, CHPS, CPHIMS, CDH-L, CRIS, CC
Director of Compliance and Government Affairs
Verisma
July 25, 2025
I wanted to take a moment to break down recent updates regarding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule Final Rule supporting reproductive health care, also known as the 2024 Privacy Rule – applying to all organizations.
Last month there was a judgment issued in the Purl v. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) case giving a definitive answer whether we need to continue with the 2024 Privacy Rule and its attestation process.
The judgment, posted June 18, has the judge vacating the vast majority, or about 90 percent, of the 2024 Privacy Rule.
The judge only kept provisions of the 2024 Privacy Rule correlated with Section 3221 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. If you’re an AHIMA member you probably recognize this as the Protecting Jessica Grubb’s Legacy Act, a notice of privacy practice changes for substance use disorder records. Fortunately, under existing HIPAA regulations, she was able to narrowly select the information to be released and designate an alternate address for communication to protect her privacy. However, this protection could be jeopardized by proposed legislation, including Florida’s SB 1606.
In simpler terms, we’re going back to the pre-compliance date of release of information (ROI) procedures – rewinding back to December 22, 2024 workflows.
The Purl case was handled by a federal court, located in the Northern District of Texas, making it a national court. In the decision, the judge spent time detailing that this judgment is applicable nationally – meaning providers from Maine to Hawaii are covered by the judgment. HHS can appeal the judge’s decision until August 18.
Several other pending cases have had stays, or administrative closure orders, issued after judgment was handed down in the Purl case. Those cases have status updates due August 25 when HHS must decide whether to appeal the judgment and the parole case by August 18 as well.
Please speak with your organization’s legal counsel before you make any policy and procedure changes. If you have any questions we’re here to answer them, so please feel free to reach out!