HIPAA Regulations: General Provisions - Definitions - Organized Health Care Arrangement - § 160.103
As Contained in the HHS HIPAA Rules
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HHS Regulations |
Organized health care arrangement means:
(1) A clinically integrated care setting in which individuals typically receive health care from more than one health care provider;
(2) An organized system of health care in which more than one covered entity participates and in which the participating covered entities:
(i) Hold themselves out to the public as participating in a joint arrangement; and
(ii) Participate in joint activities that include at least one of the following:
(A) Utilization review, in which health care decisions by participating covered entities are reviewed by other participating covered entities or by a third party on their behalf;
(B) Quality assessment and improvement activities, in which treatment provided by participating covered entities is assessed by other participating covered entities or by a third party on their behalf; or
(C) Payment activities, if the financial risk for delivering health care is shared, in part or in whole, by participating covered entities through the joint arrangement and if protected health information created or received by a covered entity is reviewed by other participating covered entities or by a third party on their behalf for the purpose of administering the sharing of financial risk.
(3) A group health plan and a health insurance issuer or HMO with respect to such group health plan, but only with respect to protected health information created or received by such health insurance issuer or HMO that relates to individuals who are or who have been participants or beneficiaries in such group health plan;
(4) A group health plan and one or more other group health plans each of which are maintained by the same plan sponsor; or
(5) The group health plans described in paragraph (4) of this definition and health insurance issuers or HMOs with respect to such group health plans, but only with respect to protected health information created or received by such health insurance issuers or HMOs that relates to individuals who are or have been participants or beneficiaries in any of such group health plans.
| HHS Description General Provisions: Definitions - Organized Health Care Arrangement |
This term was not used in the proposed rule. We define the term in order to describe certain arrangements in which participants need to share protected health information about their patients to manage and benefit the common enterprise. To allow uses and disclosures of protected health information for these arrangements, we also add language to the definition of “health care operations.” See discussion of that term above.
We include five arrangements within the definition of organized health care arrangement. The arrangements involve clinical or operational integration among legally separate covered entities in which it is often necessary to share protected health information for the joint management and operations of the arrangement. They may range in legal structure, but a key component of these arrangements is that individuals who obtain services from them have an expectation that these arrangements are integrated and that they jointly manage their operations. We include within the definition a clinically integrated care setting in which individuals typically receive health care from more than one health care provider. Perhaps the most common example of this type of organized health care arrangement is the hospital setting, where a hospital and a physician with staff privileges at the hospital together provide treatment to the individual. Participants in such clinically integrated settings need to be able to share health information freely not only for treatment purposes, but also to improve their joint operations. For example, any physician with staff privileges at a hospital must be able to participate in the hospital's morbidity and mortality reviews, even when the particular physician's patients are not being discussed. Nurses and other hospital personnel must also be able to participate. These activities benefit the common enterprise, even when the benefits to a particular participant are not evident. While protected health information may be freely shared among providers for treatment purposes under other provisions of this rule, some of these joint activities also support the health care operations of one or more participants in the joint arrangement. Thus, special rules are needed to ensure that this rule does not interfere with legitimate information sharing among the participants in these arrangements.
We also include within the definition an organized system of health care in which more than one covered entity participates, and in which the participating covered entities hold themselves out to the public as participating in a joint arrangement, and in which the joint activities of the participating covered entities include at least one of the following: utilization review, in which health care decisions by participating covered entities are reviewed by other participating covered entities or by a third party on their behalf; quality assessment and improvement activities, in which treatment provided by participating covered entities is assessed by other participating covered entities or by a third party on their behalf; or payment activities, if the financial risk for delivering health care is shared in whole or in part by participating covered entities through the joint arrangement and if protected health information created or received by a covered entity is reviewed by other participating covered entities or by a third party on their behalf for the purpose of administering the sharing of financial risk. A common example of this type of organized health care arrangement is an independent practice association formed by a large number of physicians. They may advertise themselves as a common enterprise (e.g., Acme IPA), whether or not they are under common ownership or control, whether or not they practice together in an integrated clinical setting, and whether or not they share financial risk.
If such a group engages jointly in one or more of the listed activities, the participating covered entities will need to share protected health information to undertake such activities and to improve their joint operations. In this example, the physician participants in the IPA may share financial risk through common withhold pools with health plans or similar arrangements. The IPA participants who manage the financial arrangements need protected health information about all the participants' patients in order to manage the arrangement. (The participants may also hire a third party to manage their financial arrangements.) If the participants in the IPA engage in joint quality assurance or utilization review activities, they will need to share protected health information about their patients much as participants in an integrated clinical setting would. Many joint activities that require the sharing of protected health information benefit the common enterprise, even when the benefits to a particular participant are not evident.
We include three relationships related to group health plans as organized health care arrangements. First, we include a group health plan and an issuer or HMO with respect to the group health plan within the definition, but only with respect to the protected health information of the issuer or HMO that relates to individuals who are or have been participants or beneficiaries in the group health plan. We recognize that many group health plans are funded partially or fully through insurance, and that in some cases the group health plan and issuer or HMO need to coordinate operations to properly serve the enrollees. Second, we include a group health plan and one or more other group health plans each of which are maintained by the same plan sponsor. We recognize that in some instances plan sponsors provide health benefits through a combination of group health plans, and that they may need to coordinate the operations of such plans to better serve the participants and beneficiaries of the plans. Third, we include a combination of group health plans maintained by the same plan sponsor and the health insurance issuers and HMOs with respect to such plans, but again only with respect to the protected health information of such issuers and HMOs that relates to individuals who are or have been enrolled in such group health plans. We recognize that is some instances a plan sponsor may provide benefits through more than one group health plan, and that such plans may fund the benefits through one or more issuers or HMOs. Again, coordinating health care operations among these entities may be necessary to serve the participants and beneficiaries in the group health plans. We note that the necessary coordination may necessarily involve the business associates of the covered entities and may involve the participation of the plan sponsor to the extent that it is providing plan administration functions and subject to the limits in § 164.504.