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HHS OCR/ONC Announce Latest Version of Security Risk Assessment Tool

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) have released version 3.4 of their Security Risk Assessment...more

Expiration of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Means the Beginning of the End for HIPAA Privacy and Security Enforcement...

The Notifications of Enforcement Discretion issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act during the...more

HHS Office for Civil Rights Announces the Expiration of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency HIPAA Enforcement Discretion

Like many regulatory standards, enforcement of HIPAA was relaxed as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response. With the end of the public health emergency declaration on May 11, 2023, the broad relaxed HIPAA enforcement also...more

HHS Office for Civil Rights Issues Bulletin on Requirements under HIPAA for Online Tracking Technologies to Protect the Privacy...

On December 1, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a bulletin to highlight the obligations of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)...more

FAQs for Healthcare Providers During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: Federal Civil Rights Protections for Individuals with...

On February 4, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) posted FAQs designed to make clear that civil rights protections remain in full force and effect during disasters or...more

HHS OCR Issues Guidance on HIPAA, COVID-19 Vaccinations, and the Workplace

On September 30, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR)issued guidance to help the public understand when the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996...more

Proposed Amendments to HIPAA Regulations to “Empower Patients, Improve Coordinated Care, and Reduce Regulatory Burdens”

Nearly 20 years to the day after the first HIPAA privacy regulations were announced, HHS has posted proposed revisions to HIPAA, evidence that even after twenty years, HIPAA privacy remains a work in progress. These proposed...more

New Developments in HIPAA and Related Issues in Health Information Law

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

HIPAA Business Associate Pays $2.3 Million to Settle Breach Affecting Protected Health Information of Over 6 Million Individuals

With apologies to John Donne, ask not for whom the bells tolls, HIPAA business associates, it tolls for thee! While it has been the law for some time that business associates could be held directly liable for breaches,...more

COVID-19 and HIPAA: OCR Guidance on Disclosures to Law Enforcement, First Responders, and Public Health Authorities

On March 24, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance on how HIPAA covered entities may disclose protected health information (PHI) about an individual who has...more

Enforcement of HIPAA Rules for Telehealth Relaxed Due to COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

On Friday, March 20, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced it will “exercise its enforcement discretion and will not impose penalties for noncompliance with the regulatory...more

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights BULLETIN: HIPAA Privacy and Novel Coronavirus

The coronavirus and Covid-19 are impacting everything and everyone, and certainly health information privacy. Here is a useful summary of health information issues to be mindful of from HHS OCR on HIPAA privacy and the...more

Updated Joint Federal Guidance on Privacy for Student Education and Health Records

For the first time in over a decade, the U.S. Department of Education (DoE) and the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OCR) have released updated joint guidance addressing the...more

Hospital Fined $85,000 by OCR for Failure to Provide Timely Access to Patient Records

Yesterday, in the first settlement of its kind, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“OCR”) announced that Bayfront Health St. Petersburg (“Bayfront”) has paid $85,000 to OCR and...more

“You Are Known By The Company You Keep” — Including Vendors Without Business Associate Agreements

The concept that one is known by the company one keeps dates back to ancient times (the particular phrase is attributed to both Aesop and the Book of Proverbs). But this simple aphorism continues to be true. A recent example...more

The Cost of a Free Press: Allergy Practice Pays $125,000 to Settle Physician’s Disclosure of Patient Information on TV

Allergy Associates of Hartford, P.C. (“Allergy Associates”), has agreed to pay $125,000 to the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR“) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and to adopt a corrective action plan...more

HHS Office for Civil Rights Issues Guidance on How HIPAA Allows Information Sharing to Address the Opioid Crisis

Following President Trump’s declaration of a nationwide public health emergency regarding the opioid crisis, the HHS Office for Civil Rights has released new guidance on when and how health care providers can share a...more

Want to Know Why Memorial Healthcare Systems Is Paying HHS OCR $5.5 Million?

On February 16, 2017, HHS OCR announced that Memorial Healthcare Systems (MHS) had paid the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $5.5 million to settle potential violations of HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules...more

Additional Clarification regarding HHS OCR Phishing Email Alert

More information from HHS OCR about the phishing threat... ..On November 28, 2016, the HHS Office for Civil Rights issued a listserv announcement warning covered entities and their business associates about a phishing...more

HHS OCR Alert: Phishing Email Disguised as Official OCR Audit Communication

This alert just in from HHS OCR: “It has come to our attention that a phishing email is being circulated on mock HHS Departmental letterhead under the signature of OCR’s Director, Jocelyn Samuels. This email appears to...more

More on HIPAA Audits for 2016 and 2017–Desk Audits and On-Site Audits

As part of the ongoing HHS OCR HIPAA audit initiative, it is conducting “HIPAA desk audits.” These audits don’t involve auditors coming in your facility. Instead, covered entities are being asked to submit documents on...more

Bad News for HIPAA Business Associates: HHS OCR Announces $650,000 Settlement for BA Breach

Catholic Health Care Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (“CHCS”), a HIPAA business associate, has agreed to pay the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) $650,000 in connection with a...more

HHS OCR Launches Phase 2 of HIPAA Audit Program–So What?

You have seen all the hysterical headlines — “The HIPAA audits are coming, the HIPAA audits are coming….” But when you really think about it, what is the big deal? If you are a HIPAA covered entity, you surely know by now...more

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