On October 23-24, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory hosted the Safeguarding...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") continues to be actively engaged in investigating and settling alleged HIPAA violations. In advance of Mother's Day, two decisions...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced two (2) different settlements, one with a HIPAA business associate for $350,000 and one with a...more
We have written several times about U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights’ “HIPAA Right of Access Initiative.” In its most recent enforcement action under the Initiative, the 44th such...more
On March 28, 2022, Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of four enforcement actions, three resolved in 2021 and one resolved in 2022. There are some interesting aspects of this...more
Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), individuals have the right, with some limited exceptions, to access their protected health information (PHI) maintained in a designated record set by a...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced a 45-day extension of the comment period for proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The deadline for submitting comments now has been pushed from...more
In the first settlement under the Biden Administration, on February 10th the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced a settlement of a fifteenth enforcement action...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
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
On December 10, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The proposed revisions to the Privacy Rule seek...more
Privacy revisions under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) may be on the horizon, with some potential changes that could benefit both patients and the healthcare industry. Other changes, if...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been actively enforcing HIPAA regulations this year, including a series of seven settlements under OCR’s Right of Access...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
Regulators, industry experts, and researchers provided insight into health privacy and security enforcement trends, emerging threats, and new tools at a recent conference focused on the Health Insurance Portability and...more
The nuances of the HIPAA right of access rule continue to pose challenges for health systems. Guidance previously released by The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) included extensive information on all...more
I. REGULATIONS, NOTICES, & GUIDANCE - On February 24, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a guidance entitled, “Special Enrollment Confirmation Process” that will enhance program integrity...more