Monitoring Legal Developments Relating to the Privacy and Security of Health Information
Our partner Elizabeth Litten and I were featured again by our good friend Marla Durben Hirsch in her article in the April 2016 issue of Medical Practice Compliance Alert entitled “5 safeguards to take with patient-employee health records.” Full text can be found in the April, 2016 issue, but a synopsis is below.
For her…
President Obama announced a series of Executive Orders on January 4, 2016 to address gun-related violence in America. Among those orders was an initiative to increase mental health reporting to the background check system. But this does not mean that mental health records will be widely released or that anyone who has sought treatment for…
A thoughtful reader responded to our last post, Debunking a Viral “Medical Hack” Meme, which advised health plan subscribers to cite certain HIPAA compliance issues in efforts to overturn unfavorable insurance coverage decisions.
Jeff Knapp wrote:
This meme just popped up in my Facebook news feed this morning, and I was happy to see
…
Since the early days of HIPAA, a steady trickle of misinterpretations, misunderstandings and half-truths have circulated informally both within the medical community and among the general public. The prevalence of social media only amplifies the effect. For example, a meme currently making the rounds on Facebook suggests using HIPAA as a strategy for convincing a…
Our partners Elizabeth Litten and William H. Maruca and I were quoted by our good friend Marla Durben Hirsch in her article in Medical Practice Compliance Alert entitled “Watch for HIPAA Pitfalls When Involving Police in ID Checks.” Full text can be found in the October 26, 2015, issue, but a synopsis is below. Marla’s…
A Houston-area woman was arrested at her gynecologist’s office by Sheriff’s deputies because she presented a false ID and now may face deportation, according to a September 11, 2015 report in the Houston Press. The woman, Blanca Borrego, was reportedly visiting Northeast Women’s Healthcare for an annual check-up and to follow up on a…
A recent post on this blog by our partner Elizabeth Litten was quoted in the Dissenting Statement (the “Dissent”) of FTC Commissioner Maureen K. Ohlhausen in the Matter of Nomi Technologies, Inc., Matter No. 1323251. Ms. Ohlhausen disagreed with the views of the majority of the Commissioners in the Matter because she believed that…
Cancer Care Group, P.C., a 13-physician radiation oncology practice in Indiana (group), has agreed to pay $750,000 and implement a comprehensive corrective action plan in a settlement resulting from the theft of a laptop and backup media containing unencrypted patient information. As is often the case, the breach incident triggered an investigation that revealed deeper…
HIPAA has made an unlikely appearance twice already this month in news reports involving famous athletes.
Between the Pierre-Paul medical record tweet by ESPN reporter Adam Schefter earlier this month (discussed by my partner and fellow blogger Bill Maruca here) and the ticker-tape parade featuring confetti made of shredded (but apparently legible) medical information…
New York Giants’ defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul suffered hand injuries while handling fireworks on July 4. A screenshot of a page from his hospital records was tweeted by ESPN reporter Adam Schefter on July 8, resulting in a flurry of speculation over whether the disclosure may have violated HIPAA or other privacy laws. In an…
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