Hybrid Workforces and Compliance with Sheila Limmroth
HIPPA: Privacy & Security and Potential Rule Changes
Compliance Perspective: What's New in Healthcare Privacy
On Jan. 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed new regulations to enhance cybersecurity protections for electronic protected health information (ePHI) under the Health Insurance Portability...more
On January 6, 2025, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (“Proposed Rule”) containing significant updates to the Security Rule under the Health...more
The HIPAA Security Rule was originally promulgated over 20 years ago. While it historically provided an important regulatory floor for securing electronic protected health information, the Security Rule’s lack of...more
On December 27, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Security Standards for the Protection of...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) appears to have made cybersecurity its New Year’s resolution. The first few weeks of 2025 have already brought with them proposed amendments to...more
The Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) to modify the Health Insurance Portability and...more
On January 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) published a proposed rule entitled, “HIPAA Security Rule to Strengthen the Cybersecurity of Electronic Health...more
For more than 20 years, the HIPAA Security Rule has been virtually unchanged other than extending its scope beyond covered entities to also include business associates. During that time, technology has changed, cybersecurity...more
With the HIPAA Security Rule set to undergo a massive overhaul to boost cybersecurity protections, PEOs need to take note. After all, as stewards of worksite employee and client company data – and as sponsors of group health...more
The HIPAA Security Rule may soon undergo a big overhaul that would better defend healthcare data from cybersecurity threats – and require much more from covered entities when it comes to establishing and maintaining defenses....more
‘Tis the season for holiday baking and the elves at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), have been diligently crafting their own holiday treat. On December 27,...more
Unleashed on June 27, 2017, NotPetya caused an estimated $10 billion in damages globally, among the costliest ransomware attacks in history. In 2018, the Trump administration—in tandem with the British government—blamed...more
Updates to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Security Rule (“HIPAA Security Rule”) are planned for Spring 2024. New guidance from The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) via a recently...more
Most people have heard of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), so it’s not surprising that companies dealing with digital health information will have to be HIPAA compliant. To do so, any protected...more
Hybrid work is likely here to say, and, as Sheila Limmroth, privacy specialist at DCH Health System, and the author of the chapter Hybrid Work Environment in the Complete Healthcare Compliance Manual observes in this...more
Enforcement Actions - In its first announcement of enforcement actions in 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) simultaneously announced the resolution of three...more
Earlier this month, HHS’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking comments on a statutory provision adopted last year that provides a quasi-safe harbor for entities that have voluntarily...more
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services recently issued its Summer 2021 Cybersecurity Newsletter, which focuses on controlling access to electronic PHI (ePHI) and the HIPAA Security...more
On June 9, 2021, OCR distributed an update to those on its Privacy List sharing links to alerts and resources for addressing the growing number and size of ransomware incidents. One such resource included a White House memo...more
Recently the Health Care Compliance Association released the new Health Care Privacy Handbook, 3rd Edition. https://www.hcca-info.org/health-care-privacy-handbook To learn what’s new in the book and in healthcare privacy...more
On December 17, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued its Industry Report on the HIPAA audits it conducted in 2016 and 2017. OCR found widespread noncompliance with...more
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recently issued its Summer 2020 Cybersecurity Newsletter to recommend that health care providers and business associates create information technology (IT) asset inventories in order to track...more
Given the choice between credit card data and digital health records, cybercriminals prefer the latter. A stolen credit card can be canceled. Electronic protected health information (ePHI) with its treasure-trove of...more
West Georgia Ambulance, Inc. (West Georgia) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) entered into a $65,000 no-fault settlement agreement and two year corrective action...more