HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
Podcast - Data Privacy and Tracking Technology Compliance
Patient Data and Privacy
2022 DSIR Deeper Dive: OCR’s Right of Access Initiative
HIPAA Tips With Williams Mullen - Telehealth After the Pandemic
Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Webinar: Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a proposed rule entitled “Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities.” The proposed rule, designed to advance health equity and protect people from...more
This Week in Washington: House Ways and Means Committee marks up telehealth legislation; CMS extends state Medicaid unwinding flexibilities; Senate HELP Committee ranking member releases white paper outlining possible NIH...more
The Miles & Stockbridge Health Care Practice Group hosted its inaugural Hot Topics in Health Care Law seminar last month for clients from Maryland and beyond. Miles & Stockbridge health care lawyers kicked off the seminar...more
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and other government agencies aren’t just worried that providers understand—and mitigate—the privacy and security risks of telehealth. In fact, in 2022, the Government Accountability...more
Happy 2024! The entire Saul Ewing Health Law Practice Group wishes you and yours a healthy and prosperous new year and successful (and compliant) activities in the health care delivery system this year and beyond....more
The Biden administration announced on January 30, 2023 that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) would officially end on May 11, 2023. The PHE declaration, which first was issued by the Secretary of the US Department of...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced its plan to end the Federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 on May 11, 2023. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency declarations, legislation, and...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the United States, states, payers, and providers are looking for ways to expand access to telehealth services. Telehealth is an essential tool in ensuring patients are able to access...more
On September 26, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report titled “Medicare Telehealth: Actions Needed to Strengthen Oversight and Help Providers Educate Patients on Privacy and Security Risks.”.....more
As the United States is now more than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic and as life for many is returning to some sense of normalcy, this is a great time for healthcare organizations to evaluate their compliance with the...more
The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) is expected to prompt unprecedented levels of regulatory enforcement activity that is focused on the use of telemedicine. In fact, fraudulent and abusive telehealth practices was an...more
BackgroundPrior to the current public health emergency (PHE), Medicare allowed for coverage of telehealth services primarily in rural areas where beneficiaries had difficulty accessing quality health care. Based on the...more
Halloween or HIPAA: Which is Scarier? HIPAA and the Pandemic - Telehealth: - On Friday, March 20, 2020, OCR announced it will “exercise its enforcement discretion and will not impose penalties for noncompliance with...more
On August 4, CMS posted a proposed rule on CY 2021 Payment Policies, which included important updates about the expansion of Medicare covered telehealth services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This follows on the heels of...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust upon the healthcare industry countless profound and likely permanent changes, not the least of which is in telehealth. Over the next several months, White and Williams will publish a series of...more
Acting under its broad authority granted under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), in an April 21, 2020 release the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced an even...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued blanket waivers under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act (Section 1135 waivers) on April 30, 2020. Fast on the heels of a more modest waiver announcement on...more
As a follow up to our legal alert posted on April 7, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") announced that it is accepting applications for its $200 million COVID-19 Telehealth Program as of April 13, 2020. As a...more
Update 04.10.2020: The FCC has launched an online portal explaining the application process for grants from the $200 million in funding to support telehealth services described in this client update. The FCC will begin...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), and other Federal and State agencies and...more
Recognizing the need to make health services available during the current state of emergency, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-43-20 (the “Order”) on April 3, 2020. The Order temporarily expands the...more
The Program will guide disbursement of $200 million to health care providers for connected care services. Health care providers interested in receiving funds must complete a three-step process that requires advance planning....more
As we previously reported, Congress passed and the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Pub. L. 116-136) (“CARES Act”) on March 27, 2020. We recently provided guidance on how the CARES Act...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged over the past month, state insurance departments have issued directives in reaction to the crisis, requiring such actions as a temporary moratorium on cancellations and coverage for...more