Monitoring Legal Developments Relating to the Privacy and Security of Health Information
Who watches the watchdogs to ensure they’re not sleeping on the job? The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services has published a report of its review of the Office of Civil Rights’ HIPAA/HITECH Security Rule oversight efforts, and some of the findings are not pretty.
The report’s lengthy…
Our partner Keith McMurdy posted a timely summary of the requirements of the HIPAA Omnibus Rule for employers and benefit plan sponsors at his Employee Benefits Legal Blog. It is reproduced below:
By Keith R. McMurdy on September 6, 2013Posted in Plan Administration,
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The HIPAA/HITECH Omnibus Rule that appeared in the January 25, 2013 Federal Register contained this cryptic and apparently contradictory statement:
DATES: Effective date: This final rule is effective on March 26, 2013.
Compliance date: Covered entities and business associates must comply with the applicable requirements of this final rule by September 23, 2013.
What…
CMS should improve its oversight of its electronic health record incentive program, according to a report by the Office of Inspector General released this month. The government watchdog agency faults CMS for both inadequate prepayment safeguards and insufficient postpayment monitoring of recipients of federal funding intended to help cover the costs of adoption and implementation…
A nurse has been fired by a Texas hospital after accessing information on patients for whom she had no clinical responsibility, according to the Mt. Pleasant, TX Daily Tribune. The hospital, Titus Regional Medical Center, reportedly discovered the unauthorized access in the course of an audit in November. The nurse admitted to looking…
Early EHR adopters, mark your calendars: CMS will begin accepting registration for participation in the Medicare EHR incentive program beginning January 3, 2010. CMS will post a link to the registration process on its Registration and Attestation page on January 3. The sooner you apply, the sooner you can begin to qualify for the $44,000 in additional Medicare …
With a press conference featuring top officials including HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, the Office of Civil Rights rolled out a 234-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on July 8, 2010. The full text is here. The agency described the proposed rulemaking as including significant modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Enforcement rules, as well as resources…
Ambulance-chasing meets the age of electronic records. The husband and wife team of Ruben E. Rodriguez and Maria Victoria Suarez have been charged with conspiring with an ambulance company worker to steal personal identification information of individuals transported by Randle Eastern Ambulance Service, Inc., d/b/a American Medical Response (“AMR”) and sell the information to various South…
With the HITECH breach notification rules weeks away from taking effect, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is scrambling to control the damage from the October 2009 theft of 57 hard drives containing sensitive patient information.…
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The Health InformationTechnology for Economic and Clinical Health Act or the “HITECH Act” provides incentive payments for adoption and meaningful use of HIT and qualified EHRs. CMS published a proposed rule defining "meaningful use" on December 30. It’s 566 double-spaced pages long, and can be found here: http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2009-31217_PI.pdf.
An eligible physician or other…
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