Tag Archives: HIPAA

Why Everyone Is Talking About a Rarely Invoked Rule – the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule

Back in September, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued (by a 3-2 vote) a policy statement (the Statement) regarding the oft-forgotten Health Breach Notification Rule (the Rule). I was at the FTC when the Statement was released and have since joined BakerHostetler. Around the time I joined BakerHostetler, my new colleague Melissa Hewitt published an … Continue Reading

New Director of HHS Office for Civil Rights Announced: What could Lisa J. Pino’s appointment mean for future HIPAA enforcement?

By Sara Goldstein on September 28, 2021 Posted in Cybersecurity, Enforcement, Healthcare, HHS, HIPAA/HITECH

More than eight months into the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced the appointment of Lisa J. Pino as the new director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on Sept. 27, 2021. As the new director of the OCR, Pino will be responsible for enforcing the Health Insurance … Continue Reading

Effective Oct. 1, 2021: Connecticut Expands Data Breach Notification Statute

By Benjamin Wanger and Elana Weinblatt on September 27, 2021 Posted in Breach Notification, Data Breach Notification Laws, Data Breaches, Data Privacy, HIPAA/HITECH

On June 16, 2021, the Connecticut General Assembly adopted an expanded version of Connecticut’s data breach notification statute (2021 CT H.B. 5310 (NS)). Through this expansion, Connecticut’s data breach notification statute will be updated, effective Oct. 1, 2021, to (1) broaden the definition of “personal information,” (2) shorten the amount of time within which businesses … Continue Reading

FTC Issues Statement Warning Health Apps to Notify Consumers About Data Breaches

By Melissa Hewitt on September 22, 2021 Posted in Data Breaches, Enforcement, FTC, HIPAA/HITECH

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a policy statement on Sept. 15, 2021, warning that the decade-old Health Breach Notification Rule (the rule) – which applies to companies that handle personal health records or collect health data – to notify consumers, the FTC and, in some cases, the media about data breaches. “In practical … Continue Reading

Privacy-Forward California AG Xavier Becerra Confirmed as Next HHS Secretary

By Aleksandra Vold and Alexandra Royal on March 31, 2021 Posted in HHS

On March 19, 2021, Xavier Becerra was confirmed as the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS is the federal regulatory body that oversees the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which is the primary federal enforcer of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The secretary oversees 11 operating … Continue Reading

Court Finds HHS Had No Lawful Basis Under HIPAA for a $4.3 Million Civil Money Penalty: What Does This Mean for Future HHS Enforcement Actions?

By Sara Goldstein, Jessica Captain Novick and Lynn Sessions on January 27, 2021 Posted in HHS, HIPAA/HITECH

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently found that the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) lacked a lawful basis for a $4.3 million civil money penalty order that it issued to a healthcare provider for alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 … Continue Reading

Compliance and Cybersecurity Best Practices Rewarded with HIPAA Safe Harbor

By Vimala Devassy, Sara Goldstein and Kyle Gregory on January 13, 2021 Posted in Healthcare, HIPAA/HITECH

On January 5, 2021, H.R. 7898 was signed into law with little fanfare, thereby amending the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.[1] As the healthcare industry continues to serve as one of the top targets for cybersecurity threat actors, the amendment creates a “HIPAA safe harbor” that should hopefully provide some much-needed relief to those … Continue Reading

DSIR Deeper Dive: Regulatory Investigation Landscape

By Lynn Sessions, Patrick H. Haggerty and Kimberly Gordy on May 26, 2020 Posted in Data Security Incident Response

HIPAA-covered entity and business associate breaches continue to draw attention from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and other regulators. In almost every HIPAA incident we handled in 2019 involving more than 500 individuals, OCR issued a data request. While OCR investigations can be burdensome, few of them result in penalties. State attorneys general have … Continue Reading

CARES Act Significantly Revises Part 2 Rules to Better Align with HIPAA

By Kyle Gregory and Vimala Devassy on April 2, 2020 Posted in Healthcare, HIPAA/HITECH

On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) into law. While the focus of the CARES Act has been on direct financial aid to Americans, the Act also contains a number of material revisions to the Federal privacy provisions that govern the confidentiality of substance-use … Continue Reading

HHS Issues Two Important Bulletins Waiving HIPAA Sanctions During the COVID-19 National Emergency

By Vimala Devassy on March 18, 2020 Posted in HHS

The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued two important bulletins this week regarding the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. On Mar. 16, OCR issued a limited waiver of HIPAA sanctions and penalties for noncompliance with certain provisions of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, including the requirement to obtain a patient’s agreement to speak with family … Continue Reading

Federal Court Invalidates 2013 HIPAA Omnibus Rule Regulations and HHS Guidance on Fees for Copies of Medical Records

By Sara Goldstein, Aleksandra Vold and Alexandra Royal on January 31, 2020 Posted in HHS, HIPAA/HITECH

In what is being seen as a strong rebuke to years of regulatory overreach, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered an order on January 23, 2020 that invalidates provisions of the 2013 Omnibus Rule to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) and 2016 guidance issued by United States … Continue Reading

Departments of Education and HHS Release Joint Guidance on the Relationship Between FERPA and HIPAA

By Kathryn Carey and Benjamin Wells on January 31, 2020 Posted in HIPAA/HITECH

At the end of 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and U.S. Department of Education Student Privacy Policy Office (ED) issued an update to their joint guidance on the relationship between the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability … Continue Reading

‘Apparent Inconsistency’ in HITECH Language Leads HHS OCR to Significantly Decrease Yearly Fines

By Aleksandra Vold on May 2, 2019 Posted in HIPAA/HITECH, Medical Privacy

On April 26, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) issued an announcement that the annual penalty cap for three of the four tiers of HIPAA violations would be reduced significantly to match what HHS called a “better reading” of inconsistent language found in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical … Continue Reading

Deter Workforce Snooping in Electronic Medical Records Through Education and Training

By Paulette Thomas on April 4, 2019 Posted in HIPAA/HITECH

On March 6, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Linda Sue Kalina pled guilty to wrongfully disclosing the protected health information (PHI) of another individual in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Kalina was a patient information coordinator with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) … Continue Reading

Trojan Malware Reclaims the Top Spot as the Greatest Cyber Threat to the Healthcare Sector

By Alexandra Royal on March 5, 2019 Posted in Cybersecurity, HIPAA/HITECH

Cybersecurity threats continued to plague the healthcare sector in 2018. Healthcare organizations notified twice as many individuals under HIPAA and other notification statutes in 2018 as compared with 2017. According to a new report from Malwarebytes Labs, 2019 State of Malware Report, trojan malware was the greatest threat to the healthcare sector in 2018.[1] Specifically, … Continue Reading

Best Cybersecurity Practices for Healthcare Organizations – Insider-Caused Data Loss

By Aleksandra Vold and Kathryn Carey on March 1, 2019 Posted in HHS, HIPAA/HITECH, Medical Privacy

This article is part of a series of blog posts exploring the recommendations and guidance Health & Human Services (HHS) provides to healthcare organizations in its Cybersecurity Best Practices report. For previous articles in the series, click here. While any security incident may cause an entity heartburn, when the incident is traced back to an … Continue Reading

Clearly Defined HIPAA and FERPA Policies May Help Covered Entities in Defending a Claim for Unemployment Compensation

By Paulette Thomas on February 19, 2019 Posted in HIPAA/HITECH, Privacy Litigation

Recently, in Dantry v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, No. 1665 C.D. 2017 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2019), the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed the order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (Board) which had affirmed the Unemployment Compensation Referee’s decision that Jami M. Dantry (Dantry) was ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits because Dantry’ s conduct … Continue Reading

Best Cybersecurity Practices for Healthcare Organizations – Loss or Theft of Devices

By Aleksandra Vold and Kathryn Carey on February 18, 2019 Posted in HHS, HIPAA/HITECH

This article is part of a series of blog posts exploring the recommendations and guidance Health & Human Services (HHS) provides to healthcare organizations in its Cybersecurity Best Practices report. For previous articles in the series, click here. The report on cybersecurity best practices (Report) weighs in on one of the issues many entities find … Continue Reading

Best Cybersecurity Practices for Healthcare Organizations – Ransomware Prevention

By Aleksandra Vold and Kathryn Carey on February 8, 2019 Posted in HHS, HIPAA/HITECH, Phishing, Ransomware

This article is part of a series of blog posts exploring the recommendations and guidance Health & Human Services (HHS) provides to healthcare organizations in its “Cybersecurity Best Practices” report. For previous articles in the series, click here. The report on cybersecurity best practices (Report) is not the first time HHS has discussed the prevalent … Continue Reading

The Use of Smart Speakers in Healthcare

By Paulette Thomas on February 1, 2019 Posted in HIPAA/HITECH

Smart speakers are voice-activated, internet-connected devices with an integrated virtual assistant that can answer questions, follow instructions and control other smart devices. Nearly one in five U.S. adults has access to a smart speaker, and it has been estimated that in 2018, the number of smart speakers installed reached 100 million worldwide. Using voice recognition, … Continue Reading

Best Cybersecurity Practices for Healthcare Organizations – Phishing Prevention

By Kathryn Carey and Aleksandra Vold on January 24, 2019 Posted in Cybersecurity, HHS, HIPAA/HITECH

This article is part of a series of blog posts exploring the recommendations and guidance Health and Human Services (HHS) provides healthcare organizations in its Cybersecurity Best Practices report. For previous articles in the series, click here. In its report on cybersecurity best practices, HHS highlights email phishing attacks as one of the top threats … Continue Reading

Provisioning Workforce Access to Electronic Protected Health Information: It May Be ‘Common Sense,’ but Is It Easy to Implement?

By Paulette Thomas on January 22, 2019 Posted in HIPAA/HITECH

In December 2018, Pagosa Springs Medical Center settled potential Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rule violations and entered into a corrective action plan with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The incident involved a former employee who continued to have remote … Continue Reading

New FTC Provides Insights Into Its Plan for a Balanced Approach to Data Privacy and Security

By Alan L. Friel, John Busch and Carolina Alonso on December 19, 2018 Posted in Federal Legislation, GDPR, Online Privacy

This year brought unprecedented focus on consumer privacy – the rollout of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Cambridge Analytica controversy and Congressional hearings, a GDPR-light law coming out of California, more and bigger security incidents, and multiple proposals for an omnibus federal data protection law. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC or … Continue Reading

Physician Hospitalist Group Settles with OCR and Enters Into a Resolution Agreement for Failure to Have HIPAA Policies and Business Associate Agreement in Place

By Paulette Thomas on December 18, 2018 Posted in Data Breach Notification Laws, Data Breaches, HIPAA/HITECH, Medical Privacy

On Dec. 5, 2018, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Advanced Care Hospitalists PL (ACH) had entered into a $500,000 settlement and resolution agreement (RA) resulting from OCR’s investigation of ACH’s breach notification on April 11, 2014, and subsequent supplemental notification. On … Continue Reading