Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
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
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
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
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
Most violations of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are addressed through administrative enforcement action. But, in some circumstances of improper conduct affecting the privacy or security of...more
Report on Patient Privacy Volume 22, Number 11. (November 2022) Nearly five years passed from the time the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported to the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that three...more
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 10 (October, 2022) - Thirty Democratic senators led by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., have called on HHS to strengthen federal privacy protections under HIPAA to broadly restrict providers...more
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 8 (August, 2022) - Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences’ (OSUCHS) breach might not have seemed all that serious at the time: No data is believed to have been misused,...more
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 5 (May, 2022) - Compared to other agencies, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a little fish in the big federal pond, but it has an outsize effect on HIPAA covered entities (CEs) and...more
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) just announced increased penalty amounts for entities who violate the privacy, security, and breach notification rules under the Health Insurance Portability and...more
Issue a final rule revising the privacy regulation and write guidance on the information blocking rule. Formalize the fledgling audit program required by Congress more than 10 years ago. Engage with providers and other...more
Healthcare providers focusing on COVID-19 may have missed the final Interoperability and Information Blocking Rule that was published May 1, 2020 and takes effect November 3, 2020. (45 C.F.R. Part 171). The Rule implements...more
On August 6, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the conviction of Massachusetts gynecologist Rita Luthra for criminal HIPAA violations and obstructing a health care investigation. Although such...more