Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently settled two ransomware cases with covered entities. These cases signal the government's growing concern with health care...more
On June 20, a federal district court in Texas ruled that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) exceeded its authority under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
On July 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office For Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a $950,000 settlement with Heritage Valley Health System (“Heritage Valley”) and a three-year Corrective...more
Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health System said it experienced a breach impacting more than 1.27 million patients when a former employee of vendor Nuance Communications Inc., a Microsoft Corp. subsidiary, accessed patient...more
On July 1, 2024, the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that Pennsylvania-based healthcare system, Heritage Valley Health System (Heritage Valley), has agreed to pay $950,000 to settle potential violations of the...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
While many healthcare providers are generally aware of their obligations under HIPAA, most do not have a clear sense of what happens if they fail to meet these obligations. At best, most probably are familiar with headlines...more
The US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently reached a $4.75 million settlement with a New York City hospital for alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and...more
Although the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) described its recent $4.75 million agreement with a Bronx, New York, hospital as settling a “malicious insider cybersecurity investigation,” the agency considered a total of 11...more
Imagine you are scrolling on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, or one of the multitude of other social media platforms that almost every one of us have on our devices, and you come across a video of a physician discussing medical...more
The federal agency responsible for enforcing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) – the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – recently submitted...more
On February 6, 2024, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a settlement with Montefiore Medical Center (“MMC”) for alleged HIPAA Security Rule violations and MMC agreed to pay $4.75 million and enter into a...more
Happy 2024! The entire Saul Ewing Health Law Practice Group wishes you and yours a healthy and prosperous new year and successful (and compliant) activities in the health care delivery system this year and beyond....more
If the penultimate enforcement settlement of 2023 issued by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sounds familiar, that’s with good reason. And the last one of the year should ring some bells, too....more
With a couple of “firsts,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is signaling that it is cracking down on healthcare organizations that fail to identify and address cybersecurity...more
On December 6, 2023, HHS released a concept paper that outlines the Department’s cybersecurity strategy for the healthcare sector titled, “Healthcare Sector Cybersecurity Strategy.” HHS reports that cyber incidents in...more
Report on Patient Privacy 23, no. 12 (December, 2023) Spring 2020 was a terrifying period in the annals of COVID-19, and New York was at the epicenter. COVID-19 cases, and deaths, already the highest in the nation, were...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") Office of Civil Rights ("OCR") has entered into its first settlement of potential Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") violations arising out...more
The HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules generally require covered entities (including most healthcare providers) to execute written agreements (“business associate agreements” or “BAAs”) with their business associates before...more
On September 11, 2023, the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with LA Care Health Plan (LA Care) regarding LA Care’s potential HIPAA Security Rule violations. HHS and LA Care have executed a Resolution...more
Paying the $1.3 million fine is the easy part. Complying with the CAP is a different undertaking. On Sept. 11, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced an...more
On May 16, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) through the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement of potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
Report on Patient Privacy Volume 23, no 7 (July 2023) In two public talks this spring, Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), said completing the 2021 proposed regulation extensively...more
Five Years After ‘a Singular Human Error,’ Two Breach Notices, Revenue Firm Settles With OCR - As far as settlements for alleged HIPAA violations go, a recent agreement announced by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR)...more
On May 17, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with MedEvolve, Inc. for $350,000. MedEvolve provides practice and revenue cycle management and practice...more