Health Tech Podcast - Episode 3: HIPAA, HITECH and TCPA
The Biggest Changes in HIPAA/HITECH Omnibus Rule & Recommended Action Steps—Ted Kobus
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
On January 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a notice (the OCR Notice) regarding individuals’ right of access to health records in response to a January 23, 2020...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
According to a February 12, 2019 Press Release from Protenus, a developer of analytics for patient privacy monitoring and compliance, 15,085,302 patient records were breached in 2018 – a startling number made even more...more
Under HIPAA, patients have a right to information about certain disclosures, referred to as an accounting. Under the current iteration of the regulations, covered entities and business associates need not account for...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
With most vendors offering and pushing cloud computing solutions and offsite data backup, or guaranteeing offsite backup of data they process for you, many HIPAA covered entities and business associates are questioning...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
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
Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) have recently selected a vendor to conduct the second wave of HIPAA audits. These so-called "Phase 2 Audits" are set to commence...more
We have released the inaugural BakerHostetler Data Security Incident Response Report, which provides insights generated from the review of more than 200 incidents that our attorneys advised on in 2014. The report confirms the...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently transmitted HIPAA pre-audit screening surveys to covered entities that may be selected for a second phase of HIPAA compliance audits...more
On December 5, 2013, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported on the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) compliance as of May 2011 with oversight and enforcement of the Security Rule and compliance with federal cybersecurity...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is closing out 2013 with a reminder of the importance of an effective HIPAA compliance program. On December 26, 2013, OCR announced a resolution agreement with a Massachusetts physician...more
One day after Christmas, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that a Massachusetts-based dermatology practice (Practice) agreed to a $150,000 payment and entered into a...more
Throughout 2013, HHS OCR has stated that covered entities of all sizes need to give priority to securing ePHI. In addition, HHS OCR has recommended that covered entities identify and mitigate risks before an incident occurs....more
On January 17, 2013, the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the omnibus final rulemaking (Omnibus Rule). According to HHS, this Omnibus Rule is needed to strengthen...more
The Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has posted on its website sample business associate agreement provisions to help covered entities and business associates comply with the new business...more
The final rule is significant for any organization that is considered to be a HIPAA covered entity (“CE”) (health systems, health care providers, health plans, etc.) or the more broadly defined business associate (“BA”)....more
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) started 2013 with a bang by announcing that it had reached "the first settlement involving a breach of unprotected electronic protected health information (ePHI) affecting fewer than 500...more
Enforcement action sends a strong message to the healthcare industry and reaffirms the need for security risk analysis and mobile-device security policies and procedures....more
OCR started 2013 with a bang by announcing that it had reached “the first settlement involving a breach of unprotected electronic protected health information (ePHI) affecting fewer than 500 individuals” with the Hospice of...more