HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
Podcast - Data Privacy and Tracking Technology Compliance
Patient Data and Privacy
2022 DSIR Deeper Dive: OCR’s Right of Access Initiative
HIPAA Tips With Williams Mullen - Telehealth After the Pandemic
Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Webinar: Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus
“Almost every stage of modern healthcare relies on stable and secure computer and network technologies.” The above is a direct quote from the Office of Civil Rights for Health & Human Services (“OCR”) in its proposed...more
On May 6, 2024, OCR published the final rule interpreting and implementing Section 1557 at 45 C.F.R. § 92 (the Final Rule). The Final Rule regulates the use of patient care decision support tools, including AI algorithms for...more
In early January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The Proposed Rule would modify the Security Standards for the Protection of...more
Recent federal enforcement actions have brought home the lesson that there’s really no acceptable reason for denying a patient timely access to medical records. Last year, for example, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR)...more
As Cyberattacks targeting the health care sector have continued to intensify over the past year, including ransomware attacks that have resulted in major data breaches impacting health care organizations, the protection of...more
Fiduciaries should be aware of recent developments involving AI, including emerging and recent state law changes, increased state and federal government interest in regulating AI, and the role of AI in ERISA litigation. While...more
On January 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) to amend the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
§ 160.101 Statutory basis and purpose. The requirements of this subchapter implement sections 1171–1180 of the Social Security Act (the Act), sections 262 and 264 of Public Law 104–191, section 105 of Public Law 110–233,...more
On January 6, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published significant proposed amendments (proposed rule) to the Security Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) delivered a late-December surprise: a draft overhaul of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996’s (HIPAA) Security Rule....more
We just want to provide a friendly reminder that, before key staff depart for the holidays, HIPAA covered entities and business associates should finalize their compliance with the 2024 HIPAA amendments related to...more
It’s not immediately obvious why someone would want to disclose a health care test result as part of a job application. But one such request spurred a Pennsylvania entity to provide a lot more than that: it sent her whole...more
Cyber, Privacy, and Technology Report - Welcome to your monthly rundown of all things cyber, privacy, and technology, where we highlight all the happenings you may have missed....more
On April 22, 2024, the Office of Civil Rights issued a Final Rule titled HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy (2024 Final Privacy Rule). Originally Published by the American Bar Association....more
A business associate agreement (BAA) is a written contract between a covered entity (CE) and a business associate (BA) that—among other requirements—(1) establishes the permitted and required uses and disclosures of protected...more
On September 4, Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR), challenging two key Health Insurance Portability and...more
On July 19, Change Healthcare Ince. filed a breach report with HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) concerning its mammoth ransomware attack and breach. The organization’s breach report to OCR identifies just 500 individuals as...more
Attestations are at the heart of permissible disclosures under the HHS Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) new reproductive health privacy rule—and OCR wants covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BA) to use them now. The...more
We are pleased to announce that several of the firm’s practice groups and attorneys were recognized in the 2024 edition of Chambers USA, a directory of leading law firms and attorneys. Chambers and Partners annually...more
Kaiser Permanente is notifying 13.4 million current and former members that their personal information may have been compromised when it was transmitted to tech giants Google, Microsoft Bing and X (formerly Twitter) when...more
Welcome to Vital Signs, a curated compilation of the latest legal and regulatory developments in digital health. Our lead article reports on HHS' recent final rule on the confidentiality of substance use disorder patient...more
The Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") has released a concept paper outlining its new cybersecurity strategies for the health care sector, identifying cybersecurity priorities, potential future regulations and...more
Report on Patient Privacy 23, no. 10 (October, 2023) By 2016, it should have been clear to HIPAA covered entities that a security risk analysis—and corresponding risk management plan—were compliance basics. Yet, a new...more
Data governance is a mission-critical issue for every company and institution in the United States. GCs face a host of pressing cybersecurity concerns. Triaging them requires time, attention, and a well-rounded strategy...more
A healthcare organization’s online presence is an important component of its reputation. Occasionally, dissatisfied patients will post negative reviews about healthcare services on social media and customer review platforms...more