Updates to Statute 1557 that Healthcare Providers Need to Know
Privacy and Healthcare Business Associates with Isabella Porter
State Law Privacy Video Series | Healthcare Entities and Health Data
Gerry Blass on Healthcare Vendor Risk Management
AGG Talks: Technology - In the Balance: Interoperability and Security
Is Your Practice's Marketing HIPAA Compliant?
Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Compliance Perspectives: Permissible Disclosures under HIPAA, Especially in the Time of COVID-19
Polsinelli Podcasts - Confusion to Clarity on the Future of the 340B Program
Polsinelli Podcast - HIPAA Changes Overview
On Feb. 21, 2024, the ransomware hacker group ALPHV, otherwise known as "BlackCat," disabled Change Healthcare's nationwide healthcare billing and information systems and demanded a ransom to unlock them....more
CISA's proposed rules will require organizations operating in U.S. critical infrastructure sectors to report cyber incidents within 72 hours and ransom payments within 24 hours. ...more
On March 15, 2022, the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 was signed into law. Generally, CIRCIA requires “covered entities,” defined as entities in certain critical infrastructure sectors, to...more
A sweeping array of businesses are another step closer to requirements to report cybersecurity incidents and ransomware payments to the federal government. On April 4, 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS)...more
Yesterday, March 27, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking under the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022. It is important to note...more
Late last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its first HIPAA settlement agreement involving a ransomware attack. In the press release announcing the settlement, HHS stated that they began...more
On Oct. 31, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced it had settled with Doctors’ Management Services Inc. (DMS) over a self-reported ransomware attack that occurred in...more
The Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (“CIRCIA” or “the Act”) is a new federal law, adopted in March 2022, which requires critical infrastructure entities to report certain cybersecurity incidents and...more
In response to increased and persistent cybersecurity threats to American infrastructure, Congress passed the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act (SACA), which President Joe Biden signed into law on March 15. SACA is...more
On March 1, the Senate unanimously passed the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act of 2022, which will require critical infrastructure companies to report significant cyber-incidents and all ransom payments to the...more
The Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 ("the Act") was signed into law by the President on March 15, 2022, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. The purpose of the Act is to educate...more
On March 1st, the United States Senate passed a historic cybersecurity bill with bipartisan and unanimous support. This bill impacts operators of federal infrastructure and federal civilian agencies. The Strengthening...more
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 1 (January, 2022) - As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, real “security fatigue” with pandemic-related issues will combine with cybercriminals’ increasingly sophisticated...more
Report on Patient Privacy 21, no. 11 (November, 2021) - Attorney Brad Hammer doesn’t always don a suit and tie, or what he calls his “lawyer’s uniform.” A privacy and security expert and founder of the Vakaris Group based...more
Echoing other agencies in recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued an alert sharing resources to address and protect institutions against the recent influx of...more
Report on Patient Privacy 18, no. 1 (January 2021) - Security threats to health care entities will continue to escalate in 2021, as bad actors with significant capabilities target pandemic-weary organizations still...more
Apparently prompted by the recent high-profile wave of ransomware attacks, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has reminded hospitals, healthcare systems, and other covered entities and...more
HHS OCR issues checklist, iterative guidance in wake of WannaCry and Petya attacks; Anthem breach settlement provides additional lessons. Key Points: ..Healthcare organizations are particularly vulnerable to ransomware...more
Recently, the WannaCry ransomware attack impacted 150 countries and over 300,000 computers. Not all ransomware attacks are so massive but they all are fast moving and require swift action to prevent destruction and lose of...more
The FBI has issued new guidance specifically applicable to medical and dental facilities regarding the cybersecurity risk of File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”) servers operating in “anonymous” mode. FTPs are routinely used to...more
The Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) has issued new guidance in connection with an increase of malicious cyberattacks, namely ransomware attacks on healthcare organization’s computer systems. Ransomware is a defined by HHS as a...more
Ransomware attacks at hospitals and other healthcare facilities have dramatically increased over the last several years, putting healthcare providers in the uncomfortable position of having to consider paying thousands of...more
Ransomware is malicious software that denies access to data, usually by encrypting the data with a private encryption key that is only provided once a ransom is paid. Sometimes the ransomware will actually destroy, steal, or...more
Ransomware attacks appear to be increasing in frequency as well as severity. Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts data until a ransom is paid to the hacker. For healthcare providers, the inability to access...more
On July 11, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) published new guidance on the how HIPAA applies to ransomware prevention and attacks. Specifically, the guidance lays out...more