HHS Defends Reproductive Health Data Privacy Rule Protections

A federal court should reject a Texas doctor’s request to halt enforcement of a new privacy provision that protects reproductive health data from potential disclosure, a US agency said.

The physician and her practice fell “well short of identifying any imminent, irreparable harm that warrants” lifting health-care providers’ compliance obligations throughout the country, lawyers for the US Department of Health and Human Services told the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas Tuesday. The rule doesn’t interfere with her state-law duty to report suspected child abuse, doesn’t require her to immediately update her notice of privacy practices, or ...