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
Late last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its first HIPAA settlement agreement involving a ransomware attack. In the press release announcing the settlement, HHS stated that they began...more
2023 marked 20 years since the first compliance deadline under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (“HIPAA”) privacy rule. Despite the two decades of experience with HIPAA, compliance continues to remain...more
The HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules generally require covered entities (including most healthcare providers) to execute written agreements (“business associate agreements” or “BAAs”) with their business associates before...more
On Sept. 11, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that the Local Initiative Health Authority for Los Angeles County (LA Care) entered into a $1.3 million settlement...more
On June 28, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement (resolution agreement and corrective action plan) with iHealth Solutions (also known as Advantum Health)...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
Over the past decade, the number of health care data breaches reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) has increased dramatically. From 2009 to 2022, over 5,000 data...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been busy over the past month announcing new enforcement actions and settlement agreements related to violations of the Privacy...more
On August 23, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a $300,640 settlement and a Corrective Action Plan (“CAP”) with New England Dermatology P.C., d/b/a...more
On March 28, 2022, Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of four enforcement actions, three resolved in 2021 and one resolved in 2022. There are some interesting aspects of this...more
On April 28, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) entered into a resolution agreement with Peachstate Health Management, LLC, doing business as AEON Clinical Laboratories...more
Report on Patient Privacy 20, no. 10 (October 2020) - September was quite the month for enforcement actions by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The agency announced eight settlements totaling more than $10 million....more
As detailed in a press release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), "Metropolitan Community Health Services, doing business as Agape Health Services (Metro), has agreed to pay $25,000 to the U. S....more
On July 27, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a resolution agreement with Lifespan Health System Affiliated Covered Entity (Lifespan ACE) to resolve alleged...more
On March 3, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a $100,000 settlement and corrective action plan with Steven A. Porter, M.D. to resolve potential...more
Enforcement of the OCR’s HIPAA Right of Access Initiative (“Initiative”) is in full swing and does not look like it will abate any time soon. The Initiative aims to enforce the rights of patients to timely receive copies of...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 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced its second “HIPAA Right of Access Initiative” settlement of alleged HIPAA violations....more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 1 (January 2020) - Ah, those pesky residents. If you’re a teaching hospital, you can’t live without them, right? But sometimes living with them is mighty costly, as the University of...more
Health care providers should take heed of the $10,000 settlement announced on October 2, 2019 between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and a small dental practice based on...more
This week, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a $3,000,000 HIPAA settlement arising from a medical center’s loss of an unencrypted laptop and flash drive. This is simply the latest of many HIPAA settlements based...more
On Dec. 5, 2018, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Advanced Care Hospitalists PL (ACH) had entered into a $500,000 settlement and resolution agreement...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“HHS”) just announced a $125,000 settlement for a disclosure of patient protected health information (“PHI”) to a reporter. In 2015, a patient of...more
After a break in March with no new settlement agreements, OCR returned in April and May with quite a few. The Health Care Data Aware Blog already posted about a $400,000 OCR settlement released April 12, 2017, which can be...more
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (ORC) announced an agreement to settle possible Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations with The Center for Children’s...more