Health Tech Podcast - Episode 2: Best Practices for Health App Development
In part one of our series "FemTech: how this growing industry can build trust, protect privacy and redress healthcare inequity… one app at a time", we take an introductory look at the industry, and offer some...more
Appropriately so, providers look first to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended (HIPAA), to ensure that they comply with regulations regarding patients’ protected health information...more
In May, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) proposed changes (the “Proposed Rule”) to the Health Breach Notification Rule (the “Rule”), which, among other items, emphasize that the Rule applies to mobile health applications...more
On May 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Request for Public Comment (“NPRM”) seeking to amend the Health Breach Notification Rule (“HBNR”). We previously wrote about the...more
On May 17, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) reached a settlement with Easy Healthcare Corporation (“Easy Healthcare”), for its fertility-tracking app, Premom. The agency alleged that Easy Healthcare failed to...more
On May 17, District of Colombia Attorney General Brian Schwalb announced the settlement of an investigation into Easy Healthcare Corporation, requiring the company to change its privacy practices involving the ovulation...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently issued guidance clarifying protections applicable to consumers’ sensitive personal data increasingly collected by so-called “health apps.” The FTC press release indicated it has...more
In this episode, Rebecca Schaefer interviews Gina Bertolini and Desiree Moore about the recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) policy statement regarding the FTC Health Breach Notification Rule and its applicability to vendors...more
Last week’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Open Commission Meeting (Open Meeting) featured a number of agency developments that will drive its approach to privacy, data security, and AI/algorithmic decision-making during...more
On September 15, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3–2 along party lines (with Republican commissioners dissenting) to issue a policy statement announcing an expansive interpretation of the FTC’s Health Breach...more
Key Point: California AG Becerra’s investigation into security flaws in the Glow fertility app results in a settlement agreement that resembles recent enforcement agreements in New York but is also unique in requiring the...more
The pace of innovation in healthcare today has produced an amazing increase in the number of available mobile apps for health-related information. More than 300,000 healthcare apps are available online. These apps are...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will soon launch a healthcare focused cybersecurity initiative modeled on the Homeland Security Department’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center...more
The $2.5 million settlement reflects the agency’s focus on mobile health privacy. On April 24, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with CardioNet, a...more
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman recently announced settlements with three mobile health app developers resolving allegations that they made deceptive advertisements and had irresponsible privacy practices. The...more
This initiative by the Attorney General is effective immediately and is just the latest example of California’s effort to increase enforcement of laws aimed at protecting the privacy and data security of individual consumers....more
Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, highlighted the agency’s enforcement priorities at the National Advertising Division’s annual conference earlier this week. Key mentions included the...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently issued a warning regarding vulnerabilities in third-party applications used by entities covered by HIPAA. The OCR warning applies...more
How federal privacy laws apply to mobile health applications has been an area of significant ambiguity. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil...more
The Federal Trade Commission furthered its outreach to the mobile app developer community last week by issuing new guidance for integrating privacy and security into mobile health apps, as well as an interactive online tool...more
This Halloween, the scariest monsters might not be in your closet or under your bed. They may be overseas, orchestrating intrusions into your electronic medical record. Or they may be lurking in your own workforce, carrying...more