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
As the healthcare sector continues to be a top target for cyber criminals, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued proposed updates to the HIPAA Security Rule (scheduled to be published in the Federal Register January 6). It...more
Americans hear about cybersecurity incidents on a frequent basis. As the adage goes, it is not a matter of “if” a breach or security hack occurs; it is a matter of “when.”...more
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
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
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. 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 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
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 HHS Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a notice in the Federal Register regarding its Enforcement Discretion (84 Fed. Reg. 18151) on April 30, 2019. HHS announced that HHS will now apply a different cumulative annual...more
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it is lowering the maximum amount it will assess for most types of HIPAA violations. Although the change is couched as an exercise of discretion, HHS states that...more
On April 26, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Notification of Enforcement Discretion (Notice) regarding imposition of Civil Money Penalties (CMPs) under HIPAA. ...more
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Dec. 28, 2018, announced the release of the "Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients" that provides a "Call to Action" to make...more
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been in hot pursuit of organizations in his state that fail to maintain the security and privacy of personal information. On March 6, 2018, the Attorney General’s office...more
Despite the lack of significant settlements for HIPAA enforcement by the federal Office of Civil Rights (OCR) so far in 2018, states have not hesitated to patrol privacy and security breach activity and take action against...more
Last week, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs (“Division”) announced that a physician group affiliated with more than 50 South Jersey medical and surgical practices...more
Breaches happen. They happen to major health systems, and they happen to solo practitioners. They happen to health plans, and they happen to health information technology vendors. In our technology-reliant world, it would be...more
Earlier this month, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced his state had entered into a settlement with CoPilot Provider Support Services, Inc. (CoPilot)—a settlement resulting from CoPilot’s violation of the...more
What covered entities and business associates can do to prepare for the next round of audits. On July 11, the HIPAA Phase 2 audits commenced when 167 covered entities received notice of a desk audit from the Department...more
It’s common for employers outside the healthcare industry to believe they can avoid issues brought about by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other health plan data laws. After all, most...more
A number of new developments have taken place related to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy and security compliance, and enforcement is increasing. Healthcare providers, health plans and other...more
From the rise in ransomware attacks to inadvertent disclosure of information by subcontractors, the health services industry is reminded that a potential consequence of a data breach is the threat of a regulatory enforcement...more
In an important recent decision, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed that a qui tam relator's claim that her former husband improperly accessed electronic protected health information (e-PHI) of her and her relatives...more