The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has renewed its focus on two critical areas of HIPAA compliance: risk analysis and individual right of access. These enforcement...more
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 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
Looking for compliance education and networking in your area? SCCE & HCCA’s Regional Compliance & Ethics Conferences bring compliance practitioners from all disciplines together for convenient, local compliance education....more
In 2019, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced its Right of Access Initiative, promising to prioritize patients’ rights to receive timely copies of their medical...more
In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) has announced 12 resolution agreements settling alleged violations of the HIPAA rules. Covered entities and business...more
Making quite the statement on July 15, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced in a press release that it had recently settled an additional 11 cases under its Right to Access Initiative. These settlements bring the...more
Our one-day Regional Compliance Conferences provide attendees with a forum to interact with local compliance professionals, share information about your compliance successes and challenges, and create educational...more
OCR Cracks Down on Healthcare Providers in Right to Access Initiative - “For too long, healthcare providers have slow-walked their duty to provide patients their medical records out of a sleepy bureaucratic inertia. We...more
Given what the healthcare industry faced in 2020, the seventh edition of our Data Security Incident Response (DSIR) Report, “Disruption and Transformation,” is aptly titled. As if fighting the COVID-19 pandemic weren’t enough...more
Continuing its serious march against covered entities not allowing patients access to their records, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has settled two more cases in two days in its Right of Access Initiative. This brings the...more
Recent regulatory and enforcement developments in the area of access to patient information create significant new risks for radiology providers. In particular, imaging providers should pay close attention to these...more
In December 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced proposed major revisions to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which would be the first significant changes to the Privacy Rule since the 2013 Omnibus Rule. ...more
Elizabeth Barry Heddleston Associate Now is a great time for healthcare providers to assess their compliance with HIPAA’s right of access requirements. Not only is this a hot area of enforcement, patients’ rights to access...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced another settlement involving investigations under its Right of Access Initiative. This settlement, the sixteenth such agreement under the Initiative (and one of the most...more
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) continues to take seriously all allegations of violations of the HIPAA right of access to patient medical records. As discussed in a previous blog, the OCR is enforcing patient rights by...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
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently published its findings from audits conducted in 2016 and 2017 of covered entities’ and business associates’ compliance with...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 (HHS) announced proposed revisions to the HIPAA Privacy Rule that would significantly impact the day-to-day operations of HIPAA covered entities. In this...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has announced a flurry of enforcement actions in the last quarter of 2020 as part of its Right of Access Initiative....more
HIPAA Privacy Rule changes that have the potential to significantly impact patients, covered entities, and business associates were proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in a Notice of Proposed...more
On December 17, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued its Industry Report on the HIPAA audits it conducted in 2016 and 2017. OCR found widespread noncompliance with...more