Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health System said it experienced a breach impacting more than 1.27 million patients when a former employee of vendor Nuance Communications Inc., a Microsoft Corp. subsidiary, accessed patient...more
Although the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) described its recent $4.75 million agreement with a Bronx, New York, hospital as settling a “malicious insider cybersecurity investigation,” the agency considered a total of 11...more
The federal agency responsible for enforcing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) – the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – recently submitted...more
On February 6, 2024, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a settlement with Montefiore Medical Center (“MMC”) for alleged HIPAA Security Rule violations and MMC agreed to pay $4.75 million and enter into a...more
With a couple of “firsts,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is signaling that it is cracking down on healthcare organizations that fail to identify and address cybersecurity...more
On December 6, 2023, HHS released a concept paper that outlines the Department’s cybersecurity strategy for the healthcare sector titled, “Healthcare Sector Cybersecurity Strategy.” HHS reports that cyber incidents in...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") Office of Civil Rights ("OCR") has entered into its first settlement of potential Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") violations arising out...more
The HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules generally require covered entities (including most healthcare providers) to execute written agreements (“business associate agreements” or “BAAs”) with their business associates before...more
On May 16, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) through the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement of potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
Five Years After ‘a Singular Human Error,’ Two Breach Notices, Revenue Firm Settles With OCR - As far as settlements for alleged HIPAA violations go, a recent agreement announced by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR)...more
On May 17, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with MedEvolve, Inc. for $350,000. MedEvolve provides practice and revenue cycle management and practice...more
Five former Memphis-based hospital employees and another man have pled guilty to unlawfully disclosing patient information in violation of HIPAA, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin Ritz announced....more
Report on Patient Privacy Volume 22, Number 11. (November 2022) Nearly five years passed from the time the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported to the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that three...more
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 10 (October, 2022) - Thirty Democratic senators led by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., have called on HHS to strengthen federal privacy protections under HIPAA to broadly restrict providers...more
On August 23, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that Massachusetts-based New England Dermatology, P.C., d/b/a New England Dermatology and Laser Center (NEDLC), agreed to...more
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 8 (August, 2022) - Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences’ (OSUCHS) breach might not have seemed all that serious at the time: No data is believed to have been misused,...more
Oklahoma State University’s Center for Health Services recently paid $875,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations after a cyberattack resulted in the unauthorized access of its patients’ protected health information. A...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
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 5 (May, 2022) - Compared to other agencies, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a little fish in the big federal pond, but it has an outsize effect on HIPAA covered entities (CEs) and...more
One of the challenging things about HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) enforcement is the fact that both the Office for Civil Rights and State AGs have jurisdiction to assess fines and penalties for...more
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) just announced increased penalty amounts for entities who violate the privacy, security, and breach notification rules under the Health Insurance Portability and...more
Report on Patient Privacy 21, no. 2 (February 2021) - Unless an extension is granted or the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) is withdrawn, covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) have until late March to...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
Roger Severino, Director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), provides advice for HIPAA covered health care providers: "When informed of potential HIPAA...more
Report on Patient Privacy 20, no. 3 (March 2020) - As the new coronavirus, COVID-19, spreads across the United States, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is reminding HIPAA covered entities and business associates that...more