A Boomerang Effect: Recent Regulatory Changes Involving Reproductive Health Care

Recent legal and regulatory changes around reproductive health care are creating a boomerang effect for the health care industry. On June 18, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued an order vacating the majority of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy final rule (the “RHC Rule”) nationwide. The RHC Rule was released in April of last year and carried an original effective date of June 25, 2024, with compliance dates on December 2024 and February 2026 (more information in our here and here).  Initial litigation challenging the RHC Rule was brought in October 2024.  With the RHC Rule quickly challenged in Federal court, covered entities have been awaiting a decision. The RHC Rule required covered entities or business associates to obtain an attestation from a requesting entity for any disclosure of protected health information that potentially relates to reproductive health care if the request is for purposes of health oversight, judicial and administrative proceedings, law enforcement, or to coroners and medical examiners. 

The RHC Rule also required various updates to covered entities’ Notice of Privacy Practices (“NPP”).  Even though the RHC Rule was vacated, certain provisions related to the Notice of Privacy Practices remain in place and are effective February 16, 2026. These provisions include:

• A new provision informing individuals that once their information is disclosed, it may be subject to redisclosure by the recipient and no longer protected by HIPAA. This has been a required statement in authorizations, but is now a requirement of the NPP.

• Covered entities that receive or maintain Part 2 records are still required to include several new provisions, including providing notice to individuals of the ways in which the covered entity may use and disclose such records and of the individual’s rights and the covered entity’s responsibilities with respect to such records.

Also, on June 3, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) rescinded previously issued guidance from July 2022 that reinforced EMTALA obligations (and the preemption of state law) when pregnant patients present to the emergency department.  Specifically, the guidance clarified that providers who performed abortions or other medical treatment to pregnant patients presenting to emergency departments are protected by EMTALA, regardless of the state law. This rescission of this guidance does not change federal law and EMTALA’s requirement for providers to provide stabilizing care remains in force. However, lacking clear guidance on the issue, emergency medicine providers in states with restrictive abortion laws now face uncertainty and increased confusion when assessing treatment options for pregnant patients.

We will continue to monitor additional guidance from CMS and provide updates if they become available.

Dane P. Hansen, Summer Associate
Kristin N. Lindgren