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
The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services (OCR) was busy negotiating and settling enforcement actions in November and early December. Since October 31, 2024, the OCR has settled five separate...more
On October 23-24, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory hosted the Safeguarding...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") continues to be actively engaged in investigating and settling alleged HIPAA violations. In advance of Mother's Day, two decisions...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced two (2) different settlements, one with a HIPAA business associate for $350,000 and one with a...more
We have written several times about U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights’ “HIPAA Right of Access Initiative.” In its most recent enforcement action under the Initiative, the 44th such...more
On March 28, 2022, Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of four enforcement actions, three resolved in 2021 and one resolved in 2022. There are some interesting aspects of this...more
Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), individuals have the right, with some limited exceptions, to access their protected health information (PHI) maintained in a designated record set by a...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has pursued its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative since 2019. OCR’s 19th settlement under the initiative, with The Diabetes, Endocrinology &...more
Last week, Diabetes, Endocrinology & Lipidology Center Inc. (DELC) of West Virginia reached a $5,000 settlement with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) over allegations that it failed to provide timely access to a patient’s...more
A small New Jersey plastic surgery practice, Village Plastic Surgery (“VPS”), has become the eighteenth HIPAA covered entity to face an enforcement action under the Office for Civil Right’s HIPAA Right of Access Initiative....more
With limited exceptions, HIPAA generally gives individuals the right to access or obtain copies of their protected health information ("PHI") from covered entities. (45 CFR § 164.524(a)). But the right of access does not...more
Renown Health, P.C. (Renown), a non-profit health system in Nevada, settled with the U.S. Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a matter resulting from an enforcement action for...more
In the first settlement under the Biden Administration, on February 10th the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced a settlement of a fifteenth enforcement action...more
Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and specifically the Privacy Rule under HIPAA’s implementing regulations, patients have a right to access their health information held by health...more
Health care technology has seen an incredible amount of change over the past twelve months. As health care providers and entities continue to provide patient care in unprecedented times, it is becoming increasingly important...more
2020 was an active year for HIPAA regulatory activity by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). In this article, we take a look at some of the HIPAA highlights from 2020 and...more
Report on Patient Privacy 18, no. 1 (January 2021) - The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) settled its 13th enforcement action in its Right of Access Initiative, first announced in 2019 to support individuals’ rights to...more
On December 10, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The proposed revisions to the Privacy Rule seek...more
Privacy revisions under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) may be on the horizon, with some potential changes that could benefit both patients and the healthcare industry. Other changes, if...more
In 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) kept the promise it made the prior year to “vigorously enforce” the rights of patients to access and exercise control over their medical records. OCR has settled ten “right of...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a press release on November 12, 2020, announcing that it had settled its eleventh enforcement action in its HIPAA Right-of-Access Initiative. The settlement with Dr. Rajendra Bhayani,...more
Healthcare providers are generally required by HIPAA to provide patients or their legal representatives with the ability to inspect or obtain copies of their medical records within 30 days of a request (state specific...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been actively enforcing HIPAA regulations this year, including a series of seven settlements under OCR’s Right of Access...more
In 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced the Right of Access Initiative, promising to vigorously enforce the rights of patients to receive copies of their medical records...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced yesterday that it has settled five investigations in its HIPAA Rights to Access Initiative (Initiative), which it announced would be an enforcement priority for it starting in 2019....more