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 FTC and OCR at HHS are continuing to scrutinize the use of tracking technologies that may reveal information about a person’s health or health status. Both agencies recently sent a letter to a reported 130 hospitals and...more
Designed for professionals with some compliance knowledge and experience, HCCA’s Healthcare Privacy Compliance Academy is ideal for practitioners who want a deeper understanding of effective compliance management in a...more
Each Academy provides three-and-a-half days of classroom-style training covering the latest laws, regulations, and developments to help you effectively manage your organization’s compliance program. They are ideal for...more
We have been quite busy this October, which happens to be National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. But, we did not want to let the month go by without some recognition; and we are grateful to the HHS Office for Civil Rights...more
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services recently issued its Summer 2021 Cybersecurity Newsletter, which focuses on controlling access to electronic PHI (ePHI) and the HIPAA Security...more
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting need for patient access to remote healthcare, as well as the development of contact-tracing apps, have spotlighted the importance of health-focused mobile applications (mHealth apps)....more
On October 8, 2020, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal (AG) announced that his office has entered into a multi-state settlement agreement with Community Health Systems, Inc. (CHS) stemming from an investigation of a...more
Given the choice between credit card data and digital health records, cybercriminals prefer the latter. A stolen credit card can be canceled. Electronic protected health information (ePHI) with its treasure-trove of...more
Google Health’s Partnerships Raise Privacy Concerns - Recently, Google has been at the center of privacy concerns due to its health- sharing collaborations with the University of Chicago Medical Center (the Medical Center)...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it has fined the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (TXHHS) $1.6 million for HIPAA violations. This is one of the few fines the OCR has levied against a state agency....more
According to a February 12, 2019 Press Release from Protenus, a developer of analytics for patient privacy monitoring and compliance, 15,085,302 patient records were breached in 2018 – a startling number made even more...more
The HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) breach notification regulations require covered entities to self-report the unauthorized access, use or disclosure of unprotected protected health information...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that 2018 was a significant year in Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) enforcement activity. ...more
The July 2018 cyber security newsletter issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reminds health care providers and their business associates of the importance of properly...more
Despite the lack of significant settlements for HIPAA enforcement by the federal Office of Civil Rights (OCR) so far in 2018, states have not hesitated to patrol privacy and security breach activity and take action against...more
On December 28, 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that 21st Century Oncology, Inc. (21CO) agreed to pay $2.3 Million in lieu of potential civil money...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently issued guidance emphasizing the increased risks of using mobile devices in the workplace when the mobile devices contain or have...more
According to a recent U.S. Government Interagency report, ransomware is the fastest growing malware threat, targeting users of all types. An incredible 51 percent of respondents in a January 2017 study by the Ponemon...more
Energy and Critical Infrastructure Industries Warned of Increased Attacks by FBI and DHS - The FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement on October 20, 2017 warning of an increased danger of a...more
In recent months, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced four settlement agreements and one civil monetary penalty to resolve allegations of Health Insurance Portability and...more
Last week, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance on securing end-to-end communications for sensitive information transmitted between parties over the internet. The OCR warns against “man-in-the-middle” (MITM)...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued a new guidance regarding HIPAA compliance and the use of cloud computing solutions. The guidance is intended to assist covered entities...more
On July 19, 2016, the ONC submitted a report to Congress which suggests that health privacy regulations soon may be revised to catch up with the universe of mHealth technologies that now use and share personal health data....more
The last couple of years have brought a steady rain of bad news for the healthcare industry when it comes to data security: Insurers faced with massive data breaches affecting thousands of health plans and millions of...more
Patient care is not confined to a single office or exam room, or a single physician or other provider. Caring for patients these days now includes complex coordination among physicians, nurse, technicians, staff, management,...more