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 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
On April 22, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced final regulatory updates to the Privacy Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of...more
On March 18, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued an updated bulletin to "increase clarity for regulated entities and the public" with respect to the use of online tracking...more
The Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") has released a concept paper outlining its new cybersecurity strategies for the health care sector, identifying cybersecurity priorities, potential future regulations and...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the United States, states, payers, and providers are looking for ways to expand access to telehealth services. Telehealth is an essential tool in ensuring patients are able to access...more
On June 13, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance to explain how audio-only telehealth can comply with HIPAA, while also emphasizing that this mode of telehealth services can expand healthcare...more
Below is Alston & Bird’s Health Care Week in Review, which provides a synopsis of the latest news in healthcare regulations, notices, and guidance; federal legislation and congressional committee action; reports, studies, and...more
On July 21, 2020, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced settlement of a patient complaint with the Prince George’s Hospital Center of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) that enforces a patient’s right to...more
Over the last two months, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published guidance regarding the enforcement of HIPAA and its privacy and security requirements in response to the COVID-19 public health...more
As a follow up to our legal alert posted on April 7, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") announced that it is accepting applications for its $200 million COVID-19 Telehealth Program as of April 13, 2020. As a...more
Update 04.10.2020: The FCC has launched an online portal explaining the application process for grants from the $200 million in funding to support telehealth services described in this client update. The FCC will begin...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), and other Federal and State agencies and...more
Recognizing the need to make health services available during the current state of emergency, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-43-20 (the “Order”) on April 3, 2020. The Order temporarily expands the...more
Report on Patient Privacy 20, no. 4 (April 2020) In new guidance, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has authorized hospitals and other covered entities (CEs) that may be faced with demands from first responders and law...more
On April 2, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that the agency will exercise enforcement discretion with respect to certain uses and disclosures of protected...more
On April 9, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Notification of Enforcement Discretion, which announced that, retroactive to March 13, OCR will not impose penalties against covered entities or business associates...more
The Program will guide disbursement of $200 million to health care providers for connected care services. Health care providers interested in receiving funds must complete a three-step process that requires advance planning....more
As we previously reported, Congress passed and the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Pub. L. 116-136) (“CARES Act”) on March 27, 2020. We recently provided guidance on how the CARES Act...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged over the past month, state insurance departments have issued directives in reaction to the crisis, requiring such actions as a temporary moratorium on cancellations and coverage for...more
On Thursday, April 2, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Notification of Enforcement Discretion under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”)....more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, (“CMS”) announced this week that it will pay claims for designated health services related to COVID-19 that would ordinarily violate the Stark Law. On March 30, 2020, the...more
The updated waivers build upon the more limited set of Section 1135 waivers issued on March 13, 2020, and address common concerns among Medicare providers and suppliers as they deal with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic....more
On Monday, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Ajit Pai, circulated a plan to his fellow Commissioners detailing how the $200 million the agency will receive via the CARES Act should be deployed for a...more
On March 30, 2020, CMS issued updates to its prior QSO memorandum, expanding its infection control and prevention guidance to include hospitals, critical access hospitals and psychiatric hospitals. The updated QSO memorandum...more