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
During the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), many federal telehealth rules were made flexible to accommodate the need for continued access to healthcare, including prescribing controlled substances without an in-person...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently released new guidance (the “Guidance”) to help ensure that individuals may continue to benefit from audio-only telehealth...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently issued new guidance (Guidance) on the use of remote communication technologies to deliver audio-only telehealth in accordance with...more
The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) is expected to prompt unprecedented levels of regulatory enforcement activity that is focused on the use of telemedicine. In fact, fraudulent and abusive telehealth practices was an...more
On August 4, CMS posted a proposed rule on CY 2021 Payment Policies, which included important updates about the expansion of Medicare covered telehealth services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This follows on the heels of...more
Acting under its broad authority granted under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), in an April 21, 2020 release the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced an even...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued blanket waivers under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act (Section 1135 waivers) on April 30, 2020. Fast on the heels of a more modest waiver announcement on...more
The following are just some random thoughts or curated information regarding the impact the COVID pandemic will have on privacy in general, and health information privacy in particular. I have attached a link to...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
On April 9, 2020 the Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued another Notification that it will exercise its enforcement discretion and not impose penalties for HIPAA violations in connection...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
Telehealth is not a new concept, but it has been accelerated to the forefront recently by government mandated social distancing. While all of the "stay-at-home" orders issued across the country to date have included...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 April 2, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that, effective immediately, it will exercise its enforcement discretion over certain provisions of the 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
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 17, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued a notification of enforcement discretion, announcing that it would not...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
On Monday, March, 30, 2020, CMS released a blanket waiver (the “Waiver”) of the physician self-referral law under section 1135 of the Social Security Act to enable health care provider responses to the COVID-19 outbreak. ...more
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. and many state governments have taken a number of steps to expand access to telehealth services and reduce other barriers to care. Among other things, the U.S. Centers for...more