It’s not immediately obvious why someone would want to disclose a health care test result as part of a job application. But one such request spurred a Pennsylvania entity to provide a lot more than that: it sent her whole...more
Last week, HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with a Pennsylvania provider (the Provider) concerning an alleged violation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Specifically, the Provider impermissibly disclosed a...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 Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) are among a handful of groups “urging the Biden administration to rescind a policy proposal that would threaten the American...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
Report on Patient Privacy 23, no. 11 (November, 2023) Tim DiBona clearly remembers Christmas Eve 2018 when the staff of his small firm—Doctors’ Management Service (DMS)—arrived at their West Bridgewater, Mass., office to...more
Summer is in full swing, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) is doing anything but taking a vacation from HIPAA. In May and June, OCR issued five resolution agreements...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 Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently submitted two annual reports to Congress setting forth a summary of complaints and breaches reported to the OCR during...more
A recent settlement agreement between a clinical laboratory and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to resolve potential HIPAA Security Rule violations proves to be a...more
For those providers who somehow missed or ignored the first 15 settlements in the series, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that Sharp HealthCare, doing...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
Report on Patient Privacy 20, no. 8 (August 2020) - Last month, leaders from Agape Health Services in rural Washington, North Carolina, were happy to share photos of the shell of a building in neighboring Plymouth, that,...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