Tag Archives: Hippa

With New Enforcement Action, FTC Warns Against Health Information Being Used for Advertising Purposes

By Daniel Kaufman and Aleksandra Vold on March 16, 2023 Posted in FTC

If the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent pursuits did not make clear the agency’s deep concerns about the use of health information for advertising purposes, a new enforcement action brought by the FTC against BetterHelp – to the tune of $7.8 million – should leave no uncertainty. Factual Allegations BetterHelp provides online counseling services and … Continue Reading

Aetna Agrees to Pay $17 Million and Implement Best-Practices Policy to Settle Claims of HIV-related Privacy Violations

By Brian P. Bartish and Laura E. Jehl on January 25, 2018 Posted in Data Breaches, HIPAA/HITECH, Privacy Class Actions

Last week, Aetna agreed to resolve class action claims of privacy violations related to the disclosure of thousands of members’ HIV status. The agreement will require the insurance giant to pay over $17 million into a settlement fund, the majority of which will be distributed to members of the affected class and to develop and … Continue Reading

OIG Emphasizes Proactive Enforcement of Privacy Rule and Monitoring of Repeat Offenders

By Lynn Sessions and Suchismita Pahi on November 11, 2015 Posted in HIPAA/HITECH

The Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) recently released Privacy Standards report assessed the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) oversight of covered entities’ compliance with the Privacy Rule as well as the extent to which Medicare Part B providers are aware of HIPAA privacy standards. To that end, the OIG found that Part B providers fell … Continue Reading

ONC’s Security Risk Assessment Tool Is Useful but Could Be Improved

By Randal L. Gainer on April 9, 2014 Posted in HIPAA/HITECH

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released a Security Risk Assessment Tool (SRA Tool) on March 28. According to the User Guide for the SRA Tool (available here), the Tool is designed to help small and medium-sized healthcare practices “evaluate risks, vulnerabilities, and adherence to the HIPAA Security Rule.” User … Continue Reading