New obligations for brokers under ARRA

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) mandates changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy and security rules.  These changes directly impact brokers.

To comply with ARRA, we have updated our producer agreements to include the new requirements listed below. Effective February 17, 2010, brokers must:

• Promptly notify your Aetna representative of any breach of Personal Health Information (PHI).
  
• Abide by stricter rules covering the use and disclosure of Personal Health Information (PHI) as referenced in the Notice Contract Addendum.

• Be directly accountable to the Department of Health and Human Services for failure to comply with any of the HIPAA requirements of your producer agreement with Aetna.

The standard Aetna producer agreement permits Aetna to amend the agreement upon notice to brokers whenever legislative changes make such an amendment necessary.  Therefore, you do not need to re-sign your producer agreement with us.  The amendment takes effect upon notice to you.

Notice of Contract Amendment

If you have any questions, please contact your Aetna account executive.

Thank you for your continued support.