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
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
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) appears to have made cybersecurity its New Year’s resolution. The first few weeks of 2025 have already brought with them proposed amendments to...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
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
‘Tis the season for holiday baking and the elves at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), have been diligently crafting their own holiday treat. On December 27,...more
2024 was a record year for cyberattacks in the healthcare sector. According to the Breach Portal maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”), to date this year, there...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
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is required by law to perform periodic audits of covered entities and business associates to ensure their compliance with HIPAA Security Rule...more
On December 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) announced a settlement with Holy Redeemer Family Medicine, a Pennsylvania covered entity, regarding an alleged violation...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), which enforces HIPAA, recently announced a new enforcement initiative, the Risk Analysis Initiative, in conjunction with OCR’s seventh...more
Welcome to our seventh issue of The Health Record - our healthcare law insights e-newsletter. This will be our final issue of 2024. When we started this publication earlier this year, our goal was to provide our clients,...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
Covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) may receive a “discount” for having recognized security practices (RSPs) in place when the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) calculates financial penalties for Security...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 April 22, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Final Rule titled HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy (Final Rule)....more
In the spirit of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) released a new video on October 17, 2024, to promote awareness on ransomware trends in the healthcare industry and how HIPAA subject...more
Current and potential patients are taking to the internet to share opinions and make decisions about healthcare providers. Good reviews can convert prospective healthcare consumers into patients, while bad reviews,...more
Effective June 25, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (HHS) issued a Final Rule modifying the HIPAA Privacy Rule to enhance reproductive health care privacy. This change follows the...more
On August 29, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS-OCR”) withdrew its appeal of an order by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas’...more
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has abandoned its appeal of a federal judge’s ruling overturning OCR’s guidance prohibiting covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) from using the web-tracking technologies...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