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 March 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) released a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document in connection with the February 14 Dear Colleague Letter (DCL). This document aims to clarify how...more
If nothing else, the early days of the Trump administration 2.0 have been a whirlwind of legal activity. Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have of course been at the forefront and on February 14, 2025 the federal...more
On February 14, 2025, the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance clarifying how the Department will interpret federal laws that prohibit schools and other entities receiving...more
On February 14, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (DOE) issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), which calls for educational institutions to immediately cease race-conscious practices in student...more
On February 14, 2025, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Dear Colleague Letter about legal obligations for educational institutions under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the...more
On February 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a “Dear Colleague” Letter (DCL) and emailed it to K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions around the country. The DCL...more
As of December 23, health care providers, health plans, and health care clearinghouses (covered entities) and their business associates (collectively, regulated entities) must comply with new reproductive health care privacy...more
On June 25, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the HIPAA Privacy Rule To Support Reproductive Health Care (the “HIPAA Final Rule”) aimed at strengthening privacy...more
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and subsequent state abortion bans, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a...more
On June 28, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (Loper Bright), the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the doctrine of Chevron deference, upending 40 years of precedent and significantly shifting power to the courts to...more
Given the inability of the U.S. Congress to pass a comprehensive privacy law (such as the proposed and likely dead-on-arrival APRA), the United States continues to be left with a patchwork of sector-specific laws and a...more
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a significant ruling on June 28, 2024, that changes the respective roles of administrative agencies and the courts in interpreting statutes. In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the court...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 April 22, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for the United States Department of Health and Human Services issued a Final Rule amending the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
On April 26, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a Final Rule that adds protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule...more
The Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently issued final regulations (“Reproductive Health Care Rule”) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of...more
A Department of Education letter and Q&A document outlines lawful ways for universities to promote diverse student bodies. Higher education institutions are urged to “redoubl[e] efforts to recruit and retain” students...more
On July 24, 2023, less than a month after the Supreme Court's landmark decision striking down affirmative action practices in college admissions, the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has launched an...more
In its decision holding the use of race in university and college admissions is unconstitutional in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court noted that “[e]liminating racial...more
On April 12, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Notice” or “NPRM”) to solicit comments on proposed modifications to the HIPAA...more
On April 6, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the State of West Virginia’s application to vacate an injunction imposed by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on the State’s enforcement of its version of the “Save Women’s...more
The Biden Administration has recently taken steps through agency guidance, rulemaking and decision-making to highlight protections for students and employees with pregnancy-related conditions, including abortion, under the...more
The ripple effect from the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has prompted the federal Office of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reinforce core principles of privacy compliance. HHS...more
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary Xavier Becerra directed HHS agencies to act within their power to...more
AMA Provides a No Surprises Tool-Kit - As most health care providers know by now, the No Surprises Act (NSA) prohibits out-of-network health care providers from balance billing commercially insured patients, in certain...more