Exactly 12 days before Christmas, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) gave the health industry a unique gift buried in a 900+ page rule adoption. The gift? The first...more
As states enact and enforce various laws restricting, prohibiting, and even criminalizing abortion and other reproductive health care services, HIPAA rules that allow disclosure of patient information become potential privacy...more
Watch out HHS, the FTC is taking the lead in enforcing privacy violations by companies also subject to HIPAA. BetterHelp, an on-line mental health platform, engaged in unfair and unreasonable privacy practices according to...more
The Supreme Court of the United States held in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, overruling long-standing precedent in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood...more
7/5/2022
/ Abortion ,
Aiding and Abetting ,
Board of Directors ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Employee Assistance Programs ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HRA ,
PHI ,
Roe v Wade ,
SCOTUS ,
Self-Insured Health Plans ,
Title VII ,
Travel Expenses ,
White Collar Crimes
H.R. 7898, sent to the President for signature on December 24, 2020 may be the HIPAA holiday gift covered entities and business associates have been waiting for. The bill requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and...more
Covered entities beware: a timing pitfall lurks within the recently adopted rules prohibiting information blocking. We have posted about OCR’s “Right to Access Initiative” and numerous enforcement actions taken to make sure...more
The Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services (OCR) provided guidance in June that reassured covered entity health care providers and that it is generally OK to use or disclose protected...more
A patient asks her doctor to send her test results to an app the patient has downloaded on her phone. The doctor worries that the app is not secure and that the patient might not understand the security risks. What should...more
Fox Rothschild partner Bill Maruca’s article, “Protecting Privacy During an Infectious Disease Panic”, is (unfortunately) as relevant today as it was when it was posted more than 5 years ago. Swap Ebola for COVID-19, and the...more
More than eleven years have passed since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency responsible for the privacy of protected health information under HIPAA, and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE),...more
Last week, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced its second enforcement action and settlement with a provider for failing to comply with HIPAA’s patient access requirements. Korunda Medical, LLC, a primary care and...more
If you are a covered entity health plan or clearinghouse, you may be among the nine (un)lucky entities randomly chosen this month for review into compliance with HIPAA’s Administrative Simplification rules governing...more
The U.S. Department of Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has set a Feb. 12 deadline for stakeholders to comment on how it should modify HIPAA, especially the Privacy Rule, to promote coordinated, value-based health...more
Yesterday’s listserv announcement from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) brought to mind this question. The post announces the agreement by a Florida company,...more
The new Apple Watch Series 4® is one of the more recent and sophisticated consumer health engagement tools. It includes a sensor that lets wearers take an electrocardiogram (ECG) reading and detect irregular heart rhythms....more
The recent criminal conviction of a Massachusetts physician provides a stark reminder that violating HIPAA can result in more than civil monetary penalties and the financial and reputational fall-out that results from a...more
The Report to Congressional Committees of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO Report”), required under the 21st Century Cures Act, came out about a month earlier than required, but this early bird failed to catch...more
Text messaging is a convenient way for busy doctors to communicate, but for years, the question has remained: are doctors allowed to convey sensitive health information with other members of their provider team over SMS? The...more
Heading into its 22nd year, HIPAA continues to be misunderstood and misapplied by many, including health care industry professionals who strive for (or at least claim the mantle of) HIPAA compliance. Here is my “top 5” list...more