HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
Podcast - Data Privacy and Tracking Technology Compliance
Patient Data and Privacy
2022 DSIR Deeper Dive: OCR’s Right of Access Initiative
HIPAA Tips With Williams Mullen - Telehealth After the Pandemic
Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Webinar: Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus
Today, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of the Office of Inspector General and Office of General Counsel, one of just a dozen or so agencies reporting directly to the secretary....more
Welcome to your monthly rundown of all things cyber, privacy, and technology, where we highlight all the happenings you may have missed. ...more
Welcome to our fourth issue of 2025 of The Health Record -- our healthcare law insights e-newsletter. In this edition, we look at prior authorization transparency and physician decision-making; the impact of Medicaid cuts...more
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the fifth enforcement action under its Risk Analysis Initiative. In this case, OCR reached a settlement with Health...more
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) adopted a new proposal to strengthen the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security standards...more
Nearly six years to the day that Warby Parker reported a breach affecting nearly 200,000 individuals, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) imposed a $1.5 million fine on the eyewear giant. Investigated by OCR under the Biden...more
Eyeglass manufacturer and retailer Warby Parker recently settled a 2018 data breach investigation by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for $1.5 million. According to OCR’s press release, Warby Parker self-reported that...more
As we noted in our previous blog here, on January 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing substantial revisions...more
Arecent report put the odds of an asteroid hitting the earth in December 2032 at 3.1%—which is 3,100 times more likely than an organization resolving an enforcement action with the U.S. Department of Health and Human...more
On February 20, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $1.5 million civil money penalty (CMP) against Warby Parker, Inc. (WP). WP is a manufacturer and online...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently imposed a $1.5 million civil money penalty against Warby Parker, Inc., a manufacturer and online retailer of eyewear, for...more
In the final days of the Biden Administration, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to modify the Security Rule under the Health...more
The saga that led Children’s Hospital Colorado to accept a fine of more than $500,000 imposed by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) began on July 11, 2017, when a physician’s email account containing details on 3,300...more
“Almost every stage of modern healthcare relies on stable and secure computer and network technologies.” The above is a direct quote from the Office of Civil Rights for Health & Human Services (“OCR”) in its proposed...more
Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to update the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule—the...more
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
On January 6, 2025, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (Proposed Rule) updating the Health Insurance Portability and...more
Recent federal enforcement actions have brought home the lesson that there’s really no acceptable reason for denying a patient timely access to medical records. Last year, for example, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR)...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) appears to have made cybersecurity its New Year’s resolution. The first few weeks of 2025 have already brought with them proposed amendments to...more
On January 6, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (Proposed Rule) that would strengthen the requirements of the security rule promulgated...more
On December 27, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at HHS issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the Proposed Rule) intended to update the Security Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
Recent enforcement actions, audit activity, proposed rulemakings, and guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) highlight the agency’s focus on health data...more
DOJ Final Rule: New US Restrictions on Nearly All Foreign Access to Personal Data - The National Security Division of the United States Department of Justice has issued a sweeping final rule that would prevent access to...more
As Cyberattacks targeting the health care sector have continued to intensify over the past year, including ransomware attacks that have resulted in major data breaches impacting health care organizations, the protection of...more