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
If there is one thing artificial intelligence (AI) systems need is data and lots of it as training AI is essential for achieving success for a given use case. A recent investigation by Australia’s privacy regulator into the...more
In this three-part series, we’ll review the latest federal civil rights guidance, including Title VI, ADA and Section 504, and Title IX....more
On April 22, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a Final Rule prohibiting the use and disclosure of protected health information (PHI) related to lawful...more
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has abandoned its appeal of a federal judge’s ruling overturning OCR’s guidance prohibiting covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) from using the web-tracking technologies...more
Every school year, we receive calls from parents asking about how they can protect their child from being bullied. Bullying is a serious problem for any child. However, bullying is particularly a concern for children with...more
In this three-part series, we’ll review the latest federal civil rights guidance, including Title VI, ADA and Section 504, and Title IX. Part 1: Take a Close Look at Your Discrimination and Harassment Policies and...more
On August 9, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on an employee’s...more
Applicable Provider Types: All - Is Your Entity in Compliance? Recent regulatory language makes clear that most healthcare providers must provide free translators or interpreters for patients with limited English...more
On Sept. 12, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released two new resources aimed at helping schools (including colleges and universities) and school administrators comply with the 2024...more
On September 4, Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR), challenging two key Health Insurance Portability and...more
Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a complaint in federal district court against HHS and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) challenging a recently issued rule strengthening protection of protected health...more
This summer, the Ohio House of Representatives passed the Campus Accountability and Modernization to Protect University Students (CAMPUS) Act. This law, if enacted, would require institutions of higher education throughout...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: With the myriad claims for religious accommodation that came out of mandatory COVID vaccination policies, employers have become familiar how to handle requests for religious accommodation in the workplace. ...more
On August 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) withdrew its appeal of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s (Court) June 20, 2024 decision in...more
Last year, the American Hospital Association (AHA) sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, requesting that HHS be barred from enforcing a new...more
While most entities that are subject to the HIPAA Security Rule spend considerable time and effort ensuring that they have implemented appropriate administrate and technical safeguards to protect the health information that...more
On August 29, 2024, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) withdrew its appeal of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s June 20, 2024, decision in American...more
On August 19, 2024, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) filed a notice of appeal of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s June 20, 2024, decision in American...more
For most healthcare providers and businesses, signing a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a standard practice. When contracting to provide services with an entity governed by the Health Insurance Portability and...more
Melanie Fontes Rainer recently marked the completion of her second year leading the Office for Civil Rights at HHS. In this podcast she shared some of the accomplishments over this time as well as what the health care...more
On June 20, a federal district court in Texas ruled that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) exceeded its authority under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
On July 19, Change Healthcare Ince. filed a breach report with HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) concerning its mammoth ransomware attack and breach. The organization’s breach report to OCR identifies just 500 individuals as...more
Unleashed on June 27, 2017, NotPetya caused an estimated $10 billion in damages globally, among the costliest ransomware attacks in history. In 2018, the Trump administration—in tandem with the British government—blamed...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that it ordered American Medical Response (AMR) to pay a civil monetary penalty of $115,200 for failing to comply with the...more
On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a civil monetary penalty of $115,200 against American Medical Response (“AMR”) based on a complaint that...more