New HIPAA Final Rule: Key Changes to Reproductive Health Care Privacy - Thought Leaders in Health Law®
Health Tech Podcast - Episode 3: HIPAA, HITECH and TCPA
The Biggest Changes in HIPAA/HITECH Omnibus Rule & Recommended Action Steps—Ted Kobus
In early January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The Proposed Rule would modify the Security Standards for the Protection 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
Healthcare organizations continue to be prime targets of cyberattacks. It is well-established that cyberattacks can lead to financial loss, reputational damage, and, in some cases, risks to patient care and safety. The recent...more
On February 12, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published a notice in the Federal Register regarding reinstatement of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”)...more
Last year, Congress enacted an amendment to the HITECH Act in January 2021 (“HITECH Amendment”) to require that the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) consider whether a covered entity or business associate has...more
Millions of women use reproductive health applications (or “apps”) to track menstrual cycles, ovulation, and pregnancy. These apps provide women that use the rhythm method for birth control and women seeking to become...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
The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has issued a formal request for information from the public about how regulated entities are implementing industry recognized security practices. The request for information...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
Covered entities and business associates subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) have the chance to provide input on two amendments to the Health Information Technology for...more
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has been the subject of several major developments already in 2021. Healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and business associates...more
On January 28, 2020, the Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) addressed a federal court’s January 23rd invalidation of certain provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and...more
Thanks to a federal judge, the Office for Civil Rights has modified its rules for sending records to third parties. Covered entities are no longer required by HIPAA to send non-electronic protected health information (“PHI”)...more
New guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reaffirms that business associates must have proper HIPAA compliance practices, safeguards and documentation in place...more
Business Associates – beware. On May 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services O?ce for Civil Rights (“OCR”) released a fact sheet on the direct liability of business associates under HIPAA (“Fact Sheet”)....more
The HITECH Act extended certain HIPAA obligations to business associates, including those entities that create, receive, maintain or transmit protected health information (“PHI”) on behalf of covered entities. Business...more
Nary a week goes by without news of a data breach by a healthcare provider…while there are certainly a good number of breaches resulting from a breach of cybersecurity defenses or from the wrongful exploitation of system...more
As we look back on 2017, one message is clear: don’t be a Scrooge when it comes to HIPAA compliance. With ever-evolving security threats and unrelenting enforcement, regulated entities must maintain a spirit of compliance...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued a new guidance regarding HIPAA compliance and the use of cloud computing solutions. The guidance is intended to assist covered entities...more
On June 30, 2016, the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the first-ever settlement of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) claims against a business associate. According...more
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) must improve its oversight and enforcement of patient information privacy and security rules by “covered entities” and their business associates under the Health Information Portability...more
In light of numerous recent data breaches, cybersecurity has emerged as an issue impacting organizations ranging from the local hardware store to the largest multi-national firms in the world. In short, no industry is immune...more
For years now lawyers and law firms providing professional services to health care providers or health insurance plans should have had in place essential safeguards to meet the responsibilities and requirements as business...more
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued two reports to Congress, as required by the HITECH Act. The compliance report details OCR’s enforcement activities for 2011 and 2012 and...more