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
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
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
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
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 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 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), issued proposed changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)...more
Just two weeks into the year, 2025 is already shaping up to be a busy year for privacy lawyers, especially those tasked with helping covered entities and business associates comply with the HIPAA Security Rule. As we...more
In addition to holiday celebrations, the month of December typically ushers in a final round of enforcement actions by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR), and 2024 is no...more
A business associate agreement (BAA) is a written contract between a covered entity (CE) and a business associate (BA) that—among other requirements—(1) establishes the permitted and required uses and disclosures of protected...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has, as part of its mandate, the responsibility to enforce the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule....more
Kaiser Permanente is notifying 13.4 million current and former members that their personal information may have been compromised when it was transmitted to tech giants Google, Microsoft Bing and X (formerly Twitter) when...more
Ideal for professionals with some compliance knowledge and experience, HCCA’s Healthcare Privacy Compliance Academy offers practitioners a deeper understanding of effective compliance management in a healthcare setting. The...more
October has been a busy month for the OCR, which is tasked with enforcing the regulations issued under HIPAA. In the past week, the OCR released two new guidance documents aimed at reducing the privacy and security risks...more
On April 27, 2023, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the My Health My Data Act (the "Act"), which will regulate the collection, use, and disclosure of "consumer health data" ("Consumer Health Data" or "CHD"). The...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
Issue a final rule revising the privacy regulation and write guidance on the information blocking rule. Formalize the fledgling audit program required by Congress more than 10 years ago. Engage with providers and other...more
Report on Patient Privacy 21, no. 5 (May 2021) - Given the hundreds of thousands of HIPAA covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) and the two dozen or so enforcement actions the HHS Office for Civil Rights...more
The Compliance Institute is celebrating 25 years! Join us for the Compliance Institute's 25th anniversary, April 19-22, 2021. This year, HCCA is excited to celebrate over two decades of compliance excellence with our...more
Given the choice between credit card data and digital health records, cybercriminals prefer the latter. A stolen credit card can be canceled. Electronic protected health information (ePHI) with its treasure-trove of...more
Report on Patient Privacy 20, no. 6 (June 2020): Being a health care provider in the midst of a pandemic is complicated enough, between offering telehealth services, perhaps for the first time, and helping workers continue...more
Irrespective of your industry, the current COVID-19 pandemic poses a new and unique challenge to organizations, their employees, and their customers. The emergence of COVID-19 has prompted organizations to collect and process...more
In an era of decreasing reimbursement and rapidly expanding opportunities associated with “big data”, healthcare entities may be looking for ways to monetize protected health information (“PHI”) for their own, non-patient...more
Organizations that meet the definition of "covered entity" under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and its implementing regulations (HIPAA) must be diligent to maintain the privacy and security...more
We previously reported that Cottage Health, a health care entity operating several hospitals in California, settled with the State of California for $2 million for a security incident that occurred in 2013. On February 7,...more
A Florida staffing agency which provides physicians to hospitals and nursing homes, has agreed to a $500,000 settlement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. The settlement comes...more