The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently released two resource documents to help healthcare providers explain the privacy and security risks of telehealth to their patients....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued guidance entitled “Collecting, Using, or Sharing Consumer Health Information? Look to HIPAA, the FTC Act, and the Health Breach Notification Rule.” The guidance points out...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that Manasa Health Center in Kendall Park, New Jersey entered into a Resolution Agreement and Corrective Action Plan to...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on May 8 that David Mente, a Pittsburgh psychotherapist, has paid $15,000 to settle a violation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. OCR has been...more
I don’t know how to say it any more clearly. Somehow, medical and dental practices continue to get roped into responding to negative patient reviews on Yelp, Google, or elsewhere online, and posting any identifying...more
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on November 10 that five former employees of Methodist Hospital, based in Memphis, Tennessee, were indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly selling the names and telephone...more
On October 7, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced that a former physician pleaded guilty to conspiring to wrongfully disclose patients’ protected health information to a pharmaceutical sales...more
On March 28, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced four new enforcement actions against healthcare providers for HIPAA violations....more
We don’t often cover brand-new proposed legislation on Rivkin Rounds, generally preferring to wait until it’s closer to becoming law. However, two bipartisan bills introduced in Congress last week are worthy of mention....more
2/15/2022
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicare ,
PHI ,
Privacy Laws ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Telehealth
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office announced on October 12 that Diamond Institute for Infertility and Menopause, LLC, based in Millburn, NJ, will pay a $495,000 penalty for allegedly violating HIPAA and state law by...more
10/20/2021
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Medical Records ,
Popular ,
Privacy Policy ,
State Attorneys General ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
Unauthorized Access
On September 30, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it issued guidance to clarify that the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not prohibit businesses from asking customers,...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has pursued its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative since 2019. OCR’s 19th settlement under the initiative, with The Diabetes, Endocrinology &...more
For those providers who somehow missed or ignored the first 15 settlements in the series, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that Sharp HealthCare, doing...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the 14th settlement in its ongoing HIPAA Right of Access Initiative. Banner Health, a Phoenix-based health system that operates 30...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently released an audit report on HIPAA compliance by 166 covered entities and 41 business associates during 2016-2017. The audits included...more
A proposed rule released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on December 10 would give healthcare providers more flexibility to share patients’ health information for certain purposes. The rule, titled...more
The city of New Haven, Connecticut recently agreed to pay $202,400 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to settle multiple HIPAA violations in connection with a 2016 incident at...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights’ HIPAA Right of Access Initiative has claimed another victim. HHS announced on October 9 that NY Spine Medicine, a private neurology and pain...more
The third HIPAA settlement to be announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within one week was a big one. On September 25, HHS announced that Premera Blue Cross agreed to pay $6.85 million to HHS’s Office...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently unveiled a new website with updated guidance and resources for mobile health app developers regarding the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and...more
9/25/2020
/ App Developers ,
Application Programming Interface (APIs) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Medical Devices ,
Mobile Apps ,
OCR ,
Telehealth ,
Wearable Technology
On September 21, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $1.5 million agreement with Athens Orthopedic Clinic PA to settle “longstanding, systemic noncompliance” with the...more
After a long quiet period, the second HIPAA settlement to be announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in an orchestrated one-two punch was far more costly to the second violator. Lifespan Health...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on July 23 that Metropolitan Community Health Services (Metro) paid $25,000 to HHS’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to resolve HIPAA violations. Metro, a...more
On July 13, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced the adoption of revised Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records regulations in an effort to improve care...more
On April 6, Rivkin Radler’s Eric Fader presented a COVID-19 Business Briefing on Telehealth. The Briefing covered recent developments in federal and state law and policy, and changes in private insurers’ policies, that have...more