Health Tech Podcast - Episode 3: HIPAA, HITECH and TCPA
The Biggest Changes in HIPAA/HITECH Omnibus Rule & Recommended Action Steps—Ted Kobus
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently published an executive summary (Report) outlining key enforcement activities of the Health Insurance Portability and...more
On Feb. 16, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published its 2022 Annual Report to Congress. ...more
On February 14, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued two reports to Congress as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health...more
On February 27, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that its law enforcement agency – the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) – will reorganize, adding new divisions to better address the rapid...more
The 2021 calendar year reports from HHS OCR describe OCR’s efforts that calendar year and are instructive tools for all parties who need to comply with HIPAA to understand macro-level trends....more
"Rather than reacting, you must be proactive and preventive. By doing this, you will not only be prepared for the potential obstacles that face your company, but you will most likely eliminate obstacles before they appear." ...more
Much is being written about “remote work” – is it productive, will demand for it continue or be curtailed in a recession, is cybersecurity compromised, does it inhibit workplace culture, collaboration, etc. Lots of questions,...more
In Pennsylvania, data breach notification is governed by the Breach of Personal Information Notification Act (“the Act”). Originally codified in 2005, the Act addresses the security of computerized data and the notification...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
A strong cybersecurity program can help defend against cyber attacks and protect sensitive patient data. Thanks to a 2021 amendment of the HITECH Act, when a breach occurs, it can also reduce enforcement penalties. The...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
War in the Time of Crypto - "In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which side is crypto helping? Both." Why this is important: The world continues to watch Russia's invasion of Ukraine as it dominates news outlets. An...more
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), considered one of the most expansive U.S. privacy laws to date, went into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA placed significant limitations on the collection and sale of a...more
Over the last several months, a minority of states amended their data breach notification statutes or enacted sector-specific breach notification requirements. ...more
On October 1, 2021, two Acts overhauling data privacy and cybersecurity in Connecticut took effect—the latest instance of stronger state breach reporting requirements with a safe harbor protection from litigation for...more
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont recently signed into law “An Act Incentivizing the Adoption of Cybersecurity Standards for Businesses” (Public Act No. 21-119). Under the Act, “covered entities” that implement certain...more
Introduction - The Connecticut legislature recently enacted a pair of new data breach and cybersecurity statutes — Public Act 21-59 and Public Act 21-119 — on June 16 and July 6, respectively. Both laws will take effect on...more
State legislatures across the nation are prioritizing privacy and security matters, and Connecticut is no exception. This week, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced the passage of An Act Concerning Data Privacy...more
Will HHS’ approach for imposing penalties in the aftermath of a data breach become a little clearer in 2021? This is a distinct possibility in the wake of a Fifth Circuit decision vacating penalties against MD Anderson Cancer...more
The HHS Office for Civil Rights released, at the end of last year, findings from audits it conducted in 2016 and 2017 of 166 covered entities and 41 business associates. The report represents the periodic audit that the...more
On May 22, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) published its decennial request for public comment (the “RFC”) on the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule (the “HBN Rule”)....more
It feels like we’ve been seeing a lot more health care breaches caused by hackers and other IT security incidents, and there’s a good reason why: a recent report by cloud security company Bitglass confirms that both the...more
According to a December 20, 2019 Report by HIPAA Journal, nearly 39 million health care data breaches had been reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”), Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) by the end...more
Effective October 23, 2019 for changes in data breach notification requirements, and March 21, 2020 for new data security requirements, New York’s “Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act” (SHIELD Act) broadens...more
New York State has enacted S5575, the Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (“SHIELD Act”). This new law amends New York General Business Code 899-aa and adds Section 899-bb to significantly expand consumer...more