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
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights regulatory activity for April 2024. We discuss several US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agency actions, including the Calendar Year (CY) 2025...more
On April 4, 2024, a final rule published on February 2, 2024 (the Final Rule) went into effect that concerns medication for the treatment of opioid use disorder. The Final Rule, published by the Substance Abuse and Mental...more
On November 20, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with Saint Joseph’s Medical Center for potential violations of the Health Insurance...more
Providing care via electronic communication when patients and providers are in separate locations, known as telemedicine or telehealth, has been possible for decades. The exigent circumstances sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic...more
Telehealth experienced massive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, due in no small part to various regulatory and reimbursement policies that federal agencies implemented following a declaration by the US Department of...more
During the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), many federal telehealth rules were made flexible to accommodate the need for continued access to healthcare, including prescribing controlled substances without an in-person...more
On May 10, 2023, HHS announced that many telehealth and teleprescribing flexibilities will remain in place after the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023. Congress extended many telehealth...more
The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) in the United States came to an end on May 11, 2023. Simultaneously, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that its enforcement...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
A popular saying is that it takes 21 days to form a habit and about 66 days on average for a behavior to become automatic. If that is correct, the three-year period of unprecedented waivers and flexibilities in the provision...more
In April, 2020, in an effort to facilitate a national pivot to telehealth in light of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a policy...more
On Jan. 30, 2023, the Biden Administration announced its intent to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations related to the COVID-19 pandemic on May 11, 2023. Thereafter on April 11, 2023, the...more
On April 11, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) confirmed that four notifications of enforcement discretion regarding enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach...more
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health emergency (PHE), the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued four Notifications of Enforcement Discretion (referred to as...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
On April 11, 2023, OCR announced that 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...more
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the expiration of its enforcement discretion related to compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on April 11 that the Notifications of Enforcement Discretion issued under HIPAA and the HITECH Act during the federal COVID-19 public...more
On April 11, 2023 – one month in advance of the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 – the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) confirmed that various Notifications of Enforcement Discretion...more
Like many regulatory standards, enforcement of HIPAA was relaxed as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response. With the end of the public health emergency declaration on May 11, 2023, the broad relaxed HIPAA enforcement also...more
On April 11, 2023, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced its plan for termination of the existing notifications of enforcement discretion related to the expiration of the...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the United States, states, payers, and providers are looking for ways to expand access to telehealth services. Telehealth is an essential tool in ensuring patients are able to access...more
HHS Releases Cybersecurity Guide - On March 8, 2023 the Department of Health and Human Services released a cybersecurity implementation guide for the health care industry—the HPH Sector Cybersecurity Framework...more
On January 30, 2023, the Biden Administration announced its intent to end the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023. The PHE has been in place for over three years during which time many telehealth and...more