This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights regulatory activity for February 2024. We discuss various regulatory developments, including guidance on the use of AI in coverage decisions and texting...more
Research from Guidepoint Security found that 2023 saw an 80% increase in ransomware activity year-over-year, driven in part by multiple mass exploitation campaigns impacting hundreds of organizations. In total, the report...more
Allergy Associates of Hartford, P.C., entered into a Resolution Agreement and agreed to pay $125,000 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (HHS) in order to settle certain Health...more
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued two reports yesterday calling for the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to strengthen its Health Insurance Portability and...more
Alleged HIPAA Violations Resulted from Medical Center’s Failure to Risk Assess Internet-Based Document Sharing Application and Inadequate Breach Response. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for...more
The injuries suffered by a professional football player brought the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and its implementing regulations ("HIPAA") onto center stage of the media during the days...more
As of early December 2014, 1,170 security breaches under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) involving 31 million records had been reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)...more
Patient Medical Records Stolen from New Jersey Storage Facility – Tribeca Medical Center is notifying patients that their protected health information may be compromised. According to a privacy notice posted on Tribeca...more
Massachusetts to Start from Scratch with Health Insurance Website — Massachusetts plans to abandon its health insurance exchange website in favor of starting over from scratch, according to a New York Times report....more
New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University entered into a settlement with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to resolve allegations that the organizations had violated the...more
It would be pretty unsettling if your patient status, vital signs, medications, and laboratory results were available for the world to see on Google, wouldn’t it? According to recent settlement agreements announced by the...more
Changes to the HIPAA Security Rule Background: The HIPAA Security Rule protects electronic PHI by requiring Covered Entities to implement certain administrative, physical, and technical safeguards surrounding...more
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) started 2013 with a bang by announcing that it had reached "the first settlement involving a breach of unprotected electronic protected health information (ePHI) affecting fewer than 500...more
On January 2, 2013, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced its first HIPAA breach settlement involving less than 500 patients. OCR took action against a hospice provider in...more
On January 2, 2013, HHS announced that the Hospice of North Idaho (HONI) agreed to pay $50,000 and enter into a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) as part of a settlement involving a breach of unsecured electronic protected health...more
On January 2, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a settlement with the Hospice of North Idaho (HONI) for potential HIPAA violations....more
In what is best understood as a follow-up to both the recent settlement with MEEI and the release of its mobile device security guidance, HHS OCR recently released details of a settlement reached with the Hospice of Northern...more