On February 14, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued its annual reports to Congress detailing its actions to enforce the privacy, security, and breach notification...more
5/9/2024
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Covered Entities ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Hackers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Information Technology ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Privacy Laws
A final rule published on July 3, 2023, empowers the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) to impose civil monetary penalties (CMP) of up to $1 million for unlawful acts of...more
8/4/2023
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
FTC Act ,
Health Information Technologies ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Health Technology ,
Information Blocking Rules ,
OCR ,
OIG ,
ONC
The recently unveiled California Health and Human Services Data Exchange Framework (the Framework) creates a new regulatory and governance structure to promote the exchange of health information between health care providers...more
9/9/2022
/ California ,
Data Privacy ,
Data-Sharing ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Governance Standards ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Hospitals ,
Medi-Cal ,
PHI ,
Physicians ,
Policies and Procedures
The "core mission" of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is to ensure that the health care providers who care for Medicare and Medicaid patients protect their patients' health and safety gives the agency...more
1/27/2022
/ Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Workers ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On Friday, November 5, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a comprehensive interim final rule, the Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination rule, which requires all Medicare and Medicaid...more
11/10/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Healthcare Workers ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Click the link below for our complete analysis of recent updates to the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute and their impact on health care providers.
...more
3/3/2021
/ 21st Century Cures Act ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Bonuses ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commercially Reasonable Efforts ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Fair Market Value ,
Final Rules ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Medicare Part D ,
OIG ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Profit Sharing ,
Safe Harbors ,
Stark Law ,
Value-Based Care
Fraud and abuse regulations have been adapted to meet today’s technology for electronic data, promoting cooperation among health care providers for the exchange of health information and the protection of such information...more
2/1/2021
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
EHR ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Final Rules ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
OIG ,
ONC ,
Stark Law
Nearly two years after soliciting public suggestions to modify HIPAA rules to improve the coordination of care, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) issued a Proposed Rule which changes parts of the Privacy Rule...more
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the landmark privacy law making waves since taking effect earlier this year, has continued to evolve as legislators and the California Office of the Attorney General refine and...more
Recognizing the need to make health services available during the current state of emergency, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-43-20 (the “Order”) on April 3, 2020.
The Order temporarily expands the...more
4/14/2020
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Emergency Response ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Newsom ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Medicare ,
OCR ,
Physician Medicare Reimbursements ,
Physicians ,
Public Health ,
Relief Measures ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Waivers
A software developer of an electronic health records system utilizing AI is the recent target in a DOJ fraud investigation.
On January 27, 2020, the DOJ announced that Practice Fusion, Inc. entered into a deferred...more
2/5/2020
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Liability ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drug Treatment ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Failure to Comply ,
Government Investigations ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Information Technologies ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Opioid ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Physicians ,
Popular ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Software Developers
In its November 2019 RSCR Inland, Inc. v. State Department of Public Health decision, the court held that a licensed health “facility may succeed in dismissing a citation by demonstrating the it did what might reasonably be...more
On September 10, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule with comment period, titled Program Integrity Enhancements to the Provider Enrollment Process (the “Final Rule”), which enhances...more
9/30/2019
/ Affiliates ,
Bad Actors ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ,
Comment Period ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Enrollment ,
Final Rules ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Reporting Requirements