Feds Release HIPAA Audit Protocol
The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently released its HIPAA audit protocol. Audits of HIPAA compliance were mandated by the 2009 Health Information...
View ArticleFirst HHS Settlement for Small HIPAA Breach
On January 2, 2013, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced a $50,000 settlement with Hospice of North Idaho for a data breach involving the theft of a lost, unencrypted laptop...
View ArticleNew Breach Notification Requirements Released
The US Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) released final rules on January 17, 2013 governing the privacy and security of protected health information under...
View ArticleHealth Privacy Liability Issue Proceeds to NY Court of Appeals
In last week’s decision in Doe v. Guthrie Clinic, Ltd., the Second Circuit Court of Appeals certified to the New York Court of Appeals the issue of whether a medical corporation may be liable for the...
View ArticleFeds to Offer Free HIPAA Compliance Webinars
The Office for Civil Rights of the US Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (“WEDI”), has announced a series of four free webinars...
View ArticlePhotocopiers and HIPAA – Health Plan Settles with HHS for $1.2 Million
Is your office photocopy machine a HIPAA time-bomb? Affinity Health Plan recently learned that the answer is yes, to the tune of a $1.2 million settlement with the US Department of Health and Human...
View ArticleMedical Corporation Not Liable For Employee’s Disclosure Of Confidential...
In March 2013, the Second Circuit certified to the New York Court of Appeals the issue of whether a medical corporation may be liable for the unauthorized disclosure of medical information,...
View Article5 Lessons for Health Care Providers from Joan Rivers’ Death
On November 10, 2014, the US Department of Health and Human Services released its investigation report regarding the death of actress and comedian Joan Rivers. The report, called a “Statement of...
View ArticleEDNY Judge Refuses To Unseal Grand Jury Minutes In Health Care Identity Theft...
Earlier this month, EDNY Judge Joanna Seybert examined the elements of Aggravated Identify Theft in an interesting context: a motion to unseal grand jury minutes in a health care fraud prosecution,...
View ArticleThe Individual’s Rights Under HIPAA to Access their Health Information-...
Under the Privacy Rule, HIPAA covered entities (health care providers and health plans) are required to provide individuals, upon request, with access to their protected health information (PHI) in one...
View ArticleWho is a “Qualified Person” for Purposes of Access to a Patient’s Medical...
In our previous post [found here], we explained that, under the Privacy Rule, HIPAA covered entities (health care providers and health plans) must provide individuals and their “personal...
View ArticleConsequences for Failure to Have a Required Business Associate Agreement
The Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), enforces the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). This includes the requirement that...
View ArticleOCR’s First Settlement with a Business Associate for HIPAA Violations
Catholic Health Care Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (CHCS) is the first business associate to be held directly liable for violations under the HIPAA rules. CHCS provided management and...
View ArticleConcierge Medicine – Is it for you?
According to the 2016 Kaiser/HERT Employer Health Benefits Survey, the average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health insurance coverage in 2016 was $18,142 – representing a 20% increase...
View ArticleNew York’s New Cybersecurity Regulations and its Impact on your Sensitive...
Effective March 1, 2017, the New York State Department of Financial Services promulgated regulations to help protect against cybercriminals and their efforts to exploit sensitive electronic data. These...
View ArticlePublic Health Emergencies and Mother Nature
In the wake of some of the worst storms our country has ever faced, as seen in the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Hurricane Irma in Florida, and now Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and...
View ArticleWhat are Your Thoughts on the Draft Trusted Exchange Framework?
On January 5, 2018, the United States Department of Health and Human Services released for public comment a draft Trusted Exchange Framework, which seeks to accomplish interoperability with respect to...
View ArticleAngry Text Message Recipient Loses Court Challenge On Flu Shot Reminder
It’s flu season again. Your PCP at WPMG is thinking of you! So began the health care provider’s text message that prompted this month’s Second Circuit decision applying the Telephone Consumer...
View ArticleHealthcare Business Owners—HIPAA Still Applies After Closing Down Your Business
Filefax, Inc. (“Filefax”), an Illinois company that intimately handled sensitive Personal Health Information (“PHI”), paid $100,000 to the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to settle...
View ArticleNYS Department of Health Announces Workforce Retraining Funding Opportunity
The New York State Department of Health (DOH), in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL), recently announced a Request for Applications for the Health Workforce Retraining Initiative (HWRI)....
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