The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has renewed its focus on two critical areas of HIPAA compliance: risk analysis and individual right of access. These enforcement...more
The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services (OCR) was busy negotiating and settling enforcement actions in November and early December. Since October 31, 2024, the OCR has settled five separate...more
On October 31, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) embraced the end of Spooky Season by announcing two more ransomware-related enforcement actions. ...more
On October 23-24, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory hosted the Safeguarding...more
Because of pervasive misunderstanding of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), providers all too frequently create impermissible barriers to patient access to medical records. In many cases, such...more
Privacy laws bring substantial compliance challenges for every organization that collects, processes, stores, and transfers personal data anywhere in the world. For legal departments, compliance professionals and internal...more
Comprehensive consumer privacy laws continue to hit the desks of governors in states across the country, with nineteen state laws now on the books. Since we wrote our 2023 Round-Up on State Consumer Data Privacy Laws article...more
On October 21, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a civil monetary penalty (“CMP”) of $70,000 against a solo dental practice that provides family dental...more
On October 22, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued its final rule implementing Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act (the “Final Rule” or the “Open Banking Rule”), granting consumers greater access...more
Sometimes tax motives overwhelm philanthropic motives, which has often been the case with charitable deductions for so-called “conservation easements.” For years now, sponsors have offered up investments in partnerships,...more
In the recently released 2024 Update to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (2024 ECCP), the Department of Justice (DOJ) has brought new challenges and opportunities for compliance professionals. One of the most...more
Although employers are welcome to support their employees’ ability to meet with their union representatives, they are not required to grant nonemployee union representatives access to their property to do so....more
Notable Supreme Court Decisions - In 2023, the Mexican Supreme Court addressed several high-profile decisions asserting the limits between public branches and entities to preserve the constitutional order and to protect...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that it ordered American Medical Response (AMR) to pay a civil monetary penalty of $115,200 for failing to comply with the...more
On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a civil monetary penalty of $115,200 against American Medical Response (“AMR”) based on a complaint that...more
On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced the imposition of a civil monetary penalty (“CMP”) of $115,200 collected against American Medical Response...more
Idaho’s new parental consent law took effect July 1, 2024. Under the new law: “[A]n individual shall not furnish a health care service or solicit to furnish a health care service to a minor child without obtaining the...more
In June 2023, the Rhode Island General Assembly enacted legislation granting the public expanded “privileges of the shore,” including but not limited to the right to fish from the shore, to swim in the sea and to pass along...more
What do you do when you learn the old fence that you and your neighbor thought was the correct boundary turns out to be wrong … or when you discover your house or garage has been constructed on your neighbor’s property? Such...more
On April 4, 2024, Kentucky became the fifteenth state to enact a comprehensive data privacy law, with Governor Andy Beshear signing the Kentucky Consumer Data Protection Act (KCDPA) into law. The Kentucky law will go into...more
The clash between the public's “right to know” and the interest of parties in keeping information from the public is a recurring issue. This program will give an overview of “both sides” and will examine, among other things,...more
Last month, Nebraska passed the Nebraska Data Privacy Act (NDPA), making it the latest state to enact comprehensive privacy legislation. Nebraska joins California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Iowa, Indiana,...more
Looking for compliance education and networking in your area? SCCE & HCCA’s Regional Compliance & Ethics Conferences bring compliance practitioners from all disciplines together for convenient, local compliance education....more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") continues to be actively engaged in investigating and settling alleged HIPAA violations. In advance of Mother's Day, two decisions...more