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
In the first five months of 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced it had entered into ten Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) resolution...more
In October, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) fined Providence Medical Institute (PMI) $240,000, an amount that reflected a 20% discount for having “recognized security practices” (RSPs) in place. But many more covered...more
As California private employers of 100 or more employees and/or 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors may know, it is time to annually report pay, demographic, and other workforce data to the Civil Rights...more
It’s not immediately obvious why someone would want to disclose a health care test result as part of a job application. But one such request spurred a Pennsylvania entity to provide a lot more than that: it sent her whole...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on December 3 that it imposed a $1.19 million penalty on Gulf Coast Pain Consultants, a pain management practice in Florida, following...more
On October 2, 2024, New York adopted new regulations requiring general hospitals to implement heightened cybersecurity safeguards. General hospitals, as defined in Article 28 of the NY Public Health Law, generally must begin...more
On October 31, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) embraced the end of Spooky Season by announcing two more ransomware-related enforcement actions. ...more
Cyber, Privacy, and Technology Report - Welcome to your monthly rundown of all things cyber, privacy, and technology, where we highlight all the happenings you may have missed....more
The HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules apply to healthcare providers who engage in certain electronic transactions, healthcare clearinghouses, and health plans, including employee group health plans with...more
The long-anticipated final rule addressing substance use disorder (SUD) records at 42 C.F.R. Part 2, commonly referred to as Part 2, is here. The final rule is a joint undertaking by the U.S. Department of Health and Human...more
The HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules generally require covered entities (including most healthcare providers) to execute written agreements (“business associate agreements” or “BAAs”) with their business associates before...more
Report on Patient Privacy Volume 23, no 7 (July 2023) In two public talks this spring, Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), said completing the 2021 proposed regulation extensively...more
The start of 2023 has brought with it significant changes to data privacy – new state laws concerning data privacy came into effect January 1 (the California Privacy Rights Act and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act),...more
A strong cybersecurity program can help defend against cyber attacks and protect sensitive patient data. Thanks to a 2021 amendment of the HITECH Act, when a breach occurs, it can also reduce enforcement penalties. The...more
One of the challenging things about HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) enforcement is the fact that both the Office for Civil Rights and State AGs have jurisdiction to assess fines and penalties for...more
On February 24, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“OCR”) announced that it will not impose penalties against covered entities or their business associates that use online...more
On January 14, the Fifth Circuit vacated the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s (M.D. Anderson) $4.3 million fine for HIPAA violations arising from its loss of more than 35,000 individuals’ protected health...more
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, individuals have a right to timely access their medical records at a reasonable cost. With some exceptions, a health care provider must provide those records without reasonable delay and within...more
Although the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) may yet announce one or two year-end settlements, it appears that 2019 will be known more for the implementation of changes in...more
Health care providers should take heed of the $10,000 settlement announced on October 2, 2019 between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and a small dental practice based on...more
This week, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a $3,000,000 HIPAA settlement arising from a medical center’s loss of an unencrypted laptop and flash drive. This is simply the latest of many HIPAA settlements based...more
The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today announced that it is lowering the maximum total penalties it may assess against covered entities and business associates for multiple violations...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that an administrative law judge has upheld its fourth largest HIPAA penalty against the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center....more
To state the obvious, there has been some uncertainty regarding how the Trump Administration will affect federal agency enforcement efforts. However, at least, in regard to HIPAA Privacy and Security, the U.S. Department of...more
Children’s Medical Center of Dallas (Children’s) was hit with a $3.2 million civil penalty from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for failing to take steps to properly protect...more