by Dan Bowman, FierceHealthIT

While the newly unveiled HIPAA omnibus rule, announced Thursday afternoon by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services represents a win for patient privacy protection, executing the new rules will present a multitude of challenges, according to several FierceHealthIT Editorial Advisory Board members.

Todd Richardson, vice president and CIO of Wausau, Wis.-based nonprofit health system Aspirus, Inc., told FierceHealthIT that providers and vendors that use and create electronic health record systems already walk a tight balance between complying with HIPAA and meeting the requirements of the HITECH Act and Meaningful Use regulations.

"On one hand we have 'protect, protect, protect' and on the other hand we have 'share, share, share," Richardson said. "While the balance is 'protect and share,' the devil is always in the details. The reality is that all of the information is not under the tight control of the covered entity."

To hear what else they had to say, read the full article at FierceHealthIT