New Developments in Health Information Policy
New HIPAA Final Rule: Key Changes to Reproductive Health Care Privacy - Thought Leaders in Health Law®
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
Web-based Tracking Technology and AI: HIPAA Compliance Issues for Health Care Practices
Hybrid Workforces and Compliance with Sheila Limmroth
HIPPA: Privacy & Security and Potential Rule Changes
On January 24, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order, titled "Enforcing the Hyde Amendment," revoking President Biden's two Executive Orders 14076 (July 8, 2022) and 14079 (August 3, 2022) that federally protected...more
With 2025 barely three weeks old, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has already announced six enforcement actions for the new year. Particularly significant is the advancement of...more
In December 2024, the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ASTP/ONC”) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published two...more
On December 22, the day before the 2024 Final HIPAA Privacy Rule (2024 Rule) was set to go into effect, a federal district court in Texas enjoined enforcement of the 2024 Rule against Dr. Carmen Purl and Dr. Purl’s Fast Care...more
December 23, 2024, was the compliance deadline for HIPAA covered entities and business associates to apply the protections of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to support Reproductive Health Care Privacy Final Rule—that is all covered...more
The amendments to the HIPAA Privacy Rule designed to protect reproductive health care information (Amendments) are under legal challenge as the compliance date quickly approaches. As discussed in more detail in our...more
On April 22, 2024, the Office of Civil Rights issued a Final Rule titled HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy (2024 Final Privacy Rule). Originally Published by the American Bar Association....more
As we settle into spooky season, let’s take a minute to consider a recent development in health care privacy as we ask ourselves, is this a trick or a treat?...more
On September 4, Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR), challenging two key Health Insurance Portability and...more
On June 20, 2024, a U.S. federal district court held, in a suit brought by Jones Day, that the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") had misapplied the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA")...more
The Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule amending the HIPAA privacy rules (“2024 Privacy Rule”). The 2024 Privacy Rule limits the use or disclosure of an individual’s PHI in connection with reproductive...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a “Final Rule,” HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy, which was published in the Federal...more
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule (Final Rule) on April 26, 2024 amending the privacy regulations (Privacy Rule) promulgated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
On April 22, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a Final Rule, entitled ‘HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy’....more
This past Monday, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its final rule aimed at strengthening the HIPAA Privacy rules as they are applied to reproductive health data....more
The practicing doctor (presumably) knows that he or she is (likely) subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). Less certain is whether said practitioner knows just what that means....more
Health care entities maintain compliance programs in order to comply with the myriad changing laws and regulations that apply to the health care industry. Although laws and regulations specific to the use of artificial...more
On October 18, 2023, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued two resource documents to help explain the privacy and security risks to patients’ protected health...more
If you are in the consumer health space, you have (or at least we hope you have...) figured out by now that there are health-related privacy and security laws and regulations that apply to your business. The Federal Trade...more
Report on Patient Privacy Volume 23, no 7 (July 2023) In two public talks this spring, Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), said completing the 2021 proposed regulation extensively...more
Long before enactment of HIPAA, substance use disorder (“SUD”) treatment records have enjoyed confidentiality protections under 42 C.F.R. Part 2 (“Part 2”). Since HIPAA/HITECH and related regulations went into effect, SUD...more
The start of 2023 has brought with it significant changes to data privacy – new state laws concerning data privacy came into effect January 1 (the California Privacy Rights Act and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act),...more
In a December 2022 bulletin published by the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), HHS made clear that the use of third-party tracking technologies by covered entities and business...more
Amid the ongoing proliferation of headlines about the mental health crisis in the United States, of which substance use disorder is a large part, the recent issuance by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)...more
By January 31, 2023, general acute care hospitals, clinical labs and certain physician organizations and medical groups in California are required to enter into the Single Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) to participate in the...more