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
On April 22, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a Final Rule prohibiting the use and disclosure of protected health information (PHI) related to lawful...more
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has abandoned its appeal of a federal judge’s ruling overturning OCR’s guidance prohibiting covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) from using the web-tracking technologies...more
Applicable Provider Types: All - Is Your Entity in Compliance? Recent regulatory language makes clear that most healthcare providers must provide free translators or interpreters for patients with limited English...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: With the myriad claims for religious accommodation that came out of mandatory COVID vaccination policies, employers have become familiar how to handle requests for religious accommodation in the workplace. ...more
Last year, the American Hospital Association (AHA) sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, requesting that HHS be barred from enforcing a new...more
While most entities that are subject to the HIPAA Security Rule spend considerable time and effort ensuring that they have implemented appropriate administrate and technical safeguards to protect the health information that...more
For most healthcare providers and businesses, signing a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a standard practice. When contracting to provide services with an entity governed by the Health Insurance Portability and...more
Melanie Fontes Rainer recently marked the completion of her second year leading the Office for Civil Rights at HHS. In this podcast she shared some of the accomplishments over this time as well as what the health care...more
On June 20, a federal district court in Texas ruled that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) exceeded its authority under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
Unleashed on June 27, 2017, NotPetya caused an estimated $10 billion in damages globally, among the costliest ransomware attacks in history. In 2018, the Trump administration—in tandem with the British government—blamed...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that it ordered American Medical Response (AMR) to pay a civil monetary penalty of $115,200 for failing to comply with the...more
On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a civil monetary penalty of $115,200 against American Medical Response (“AMR”) based on a complaint that...more
On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced the imposition of a civil monetary penalty (“CMP”) of $115,200 collected against American Medical Response...more
Earlier we discussed the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the US Department of Health and Human Services final rules relating to reproductive health care information (the “Final Rules”). In our prior blog we discussed that...more
Address the latest updates & emerging trends in privacy - Join us this October for HCCA's virtual event dedicated to privacy compliance. This virtual event provides first-hand insights from government agencies regarding...more
The Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in 2010, contained a provision (commonly referred to as Section 1557) prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in...more
On July 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that Heritage Valley Health System, a provider in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, agreed to pay $950,000 to resolve...more
The Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the US Department of Health and Human Services recently released a final rule (“Final Rule”) to update the HIPAA Privacy Rules for reproductive health care information. The Final Rule...more
On July 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office For Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a $950,000 settlement with Heritage Valley Health System (“Heritage Valley”) and a three-year Corrective...more
The expansion of artificial intelligence (“AI”) applications in healthcare (“Healthcare AI”) has made recent headlines, from the transformation of clinical diagnostics with increased accuracy, to use of personalized medicine...more
On June 25, 2024, the Final Rule issued by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) that amended the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) became effective as a means of further protecting...more
In a narrow but significant ruling in American Hospital Association et al. v. Xavier Becerra, et al., No. 4:23-cv-01110-P, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Hon. Mark T. Pittman) ruled that one...more
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a significant ruling on June 28, 2024, that changes the respective roles of administrative agencies and the courts in interpreting statutes. In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the court...more
On June 20, 2024, a Texas federal judge ruled that guidance published by the Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) prohibiting covered entities from disclosing information collected by third-party...more
On June 20, 2024, the Northern District of Texas issued its final order in American Hospital Association, et al. v. Becerra, et al. (AHA), granting the plaintiffs’ (the American Hospital Association, two Texas health systems...more