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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Thanks to a federal judge, the Office for Civil Rights has modified its rules for sending records to third parties. Covered entities are no longer required by HIPAA to send non-electronic protected health information (“PHI”)...more
Access to healthcare information (or lack thereof) has always been touted as one of the key factors/necessities to realizing the promise of technology in the delivery of healthcare. Despite various legislative, judicial,...more