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 December 7, 2023, OCR released a statement that it was settling a phishing cyber-attack investigation into Lafourche Medical Group (the Medical Group) which specializes in emergency medicine, occupational medicine, and...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced two settlements with HIPAA-covered entities – one in Washington State and one in New Jersey with settlements of $240,000...more
On December 22, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced a settlement of a thirteenth enforcement action under its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative (the...more
Report on Patient Privacy 20, no. 1 (January 2020) - In the waning days of 2019, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) didn’t halt the HIPAA enforcement momentum it had built up during the last quarter of the year, dinging...more
On December 12, 2019, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced its second enforcement action this year related to an individual’s right to access his/her protected health information (PHI). Korunda Medical, LLC (Korunda)...more
Report on Patient Privacy 19, no. 12 (December 2019) - Sentara Hospitals, a nonprofit group of 12 medical centers in Virginia and North Carolina, will implement a fairly minimal two-year corrective action plan (CAP) and...more
On November 27, 2019 the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $2.175 million dollar settlement with a hospital system to resolve alleged violations of HIPAA’s Breach...more
Compliance Today (November 2019) - On September 9, 2019, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its first enforcement action and settlement in its Right of Access...more
The latest HIPAA resolution agreement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a reminder that healthcare providers must take the high road when responding to unflattering online...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services announced it reached a settlement with Elite Dental Associates of Dallas (Elite) to resolve a complaint alleging Elite impermissibly disclosed a...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“HHS”) just announced an $111,400 settlement and substantial corrective action plan for a Colorado hospital whose former employee still had access to...more
On October 15, 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that Anthem, Inc. will pay $16 million to settle OCR’s investigation of its potential violations of the Health...more
A recent settlement of $2.5 million for alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") continues a trend of government enforcement targeting health care providers and vendors that fail...more
While your business may indeed be a “victim” when hit by a phishing attack, your enterprise can also be responsible for violations of law associated with the incident. Earlier this week, the HHS Office for Civil Rights...more
On January 18, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“HHS OCR”) announced that it had agreed to a $2.2 million settlement with MAPFRE Life Assurance Company of Puerto Rico (“MAPFRE Life”),...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced that the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) has agreed to settle an investigation against it as a result of a malware infection for $650,000, along with implementing a...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced that it has entered into a settlement with St. Joseph Health, which operates hospitals and nursing homes in California, Texas and New Mexico, for $2.14 million for alleged HIPAA...more
On October 18, 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a $2.14 million settlement with St. Joseph Health (“St. Joseph”), a non-profit integrated Catholic healthcare delivery...more
This month marked the largest HIPAA settlement to-date for a single entity. Advocate Health Care Network (“Advocate”) agreed to pay $5.5 million and adopt a corrective action plan after an investigation by the Department of...more
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recently uploaded two items of interest: information regarding the largest penalty to date against a single entity, Advocate Health Care Network (Advocate), and HIPAA Phase II Desk Audit...more
On August, 4, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that Advocate Health Care Network (Advocate) agreed to pay a settlement amount of $5.55 million and adopt a...more
For our HIPAA-covered entity readers, we have asked these questions before: Have you taken a business associate inventory? Have you undertaken a comprehensive risk assessment as required by HIPAA?...more
On consecutive days, the Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently announced two large HIPAA breach settlements. On March 16, 2016, OCR announced that it entered into a...more
As we have repeatedly emphasized on this blog, HIPAA Covered Entities must ensure that they have compliant business associate agreements (“BAAs”) in place with all of their business associates and must ensure that they have...more
The Health Law Gurus™ are here to help you stay current on issues and breaking news in health law. To help you stay up-to-date, we are excited to announce our new segment, “Ask the Health Law Gurus™.” Each month, we will...more