New HIPAA Final Rule: Key Changes to Reproductive Health Care Privacy - Thought Leaders in Health Law®
Health Tech Podcast - Episode 3: HIPAA, HITECH and TCPA
The Biggest Changes in HIPAA/HITECH Omnibus Rule & Recommended Action Steps—Ted Kobus
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has, as part of its mandate, the responsibility to enforce the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule....more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently published an executive summary (Report) outlining key enforcement activities of the Health Insurance Portability and...more
On Feb. 16, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published its 2022 Annual Report to Congress. ...more
Healthcare organizations continue to be prime targets of cyberattacks. It is well-established that cyberattacks can lead to financial loss, reputational damage, and, in some cases, risks to patient care and safety. The recent...more
On February 14, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued two reports to Congress as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health...more
There has been a notable emphasis on proactive enforcement of the privacy and security of protected health information in recent weeks as evidenced by multiple developments regarding compliance with the Health Insurance...more
A new HHS Final Rule overhauls the federal Part 2 regulations on the confidentiality of substance use disorder (SUD) records. Our Heath Care Health Care and Privacy, Cyber & Data Strategy Groups unpack how the changes will...more
On February 12, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published a notice in the Federal Register regarding reinstatement of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”)...more
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Office for Civil Rights recently issued a Final Rule amending the Confidentiality of...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") issued a concept paper describing its overarching strategy to address healthcare cybersecurity. The concept paper builds on the Biden-Harris Administration's National...more
The plaintiff’s bar continues to bring new wiretapping claims over pixels and analytics programs in courts around the country, including against hospitals and other entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and...more
On April 17, 2023, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to modify the Standards for Privacy for Individually Identifiable...more
The Notifications of Enforcement Discretion issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act during the...more
On February 27, 2023 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), announced the formation of three new divisions within the office: Enforcement Division, Policy Division,...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) has announced that several notifications of enforcement discretion issued during the COVID-19 public health emergency (“PHE”) will expire...more
In February, when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) delivered two annual reports to Congress for the 2021 calendar year as mandated by the HITECH Act, several notable...more
On February 27, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that its law enforcement agency – the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) – will reorganize, adding new divisions to better address the rapid...more
The 2021 calendar year reports from HHS OCR describe OCR’s efforts that calendar year and are instructive tools for all parties who need to comply with HIPAA to understand macro-level trends....more
Last year, Congress enacted an amendment to the HITECH Act in January 2021 (“HITECH Amendment”) to require that the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) consider whether a covered entity or business associate has...more
On November 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking...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
A strong cybersecurity program can help defend against cyber attacks and protect sensitive patient data. Thanks to a 2021 amendment of the HITECH Act, when a breach occurs, it can also reduce enforcement penalties. The...more
Millions of women use reproductive health applications (or “apps”) to track menstrual cycles, ovulation, and pregnancy. These apps provide women that use the rhythm method for birth control and women seeking to become...more
• In 2021, HITECH was amended to add “recognized cybersecurity practices” as a mitigating factor when determining fines, audits and remedies against covered entities and business associates for violations of HIPAA....more