We know by now that protected health information (PHI) and other personal information is vulnerable to hackers. Last week, the Washington Times reported that the Department of Health and Human
Continue Reading Hackers: Take My Health Information, But Please Don’t Take My Health
OCR
Basic HIPAA Question for Mobile Health Application Developers: What Are You?
Health-related technology has developed light-years faster than health information privacy and security protection laws and policies, and consumers can find new mobile health applications for a wide range of purposes…
Continue Reading Basic HIPAA Question for Mobile Health Application Developers: What Are You?
HIPAA Compliance Trends for 2015
As she had done in 2014, Marla Durben Hirsch interviewed my partner Elizabeth Litten and me for her annual Medical Practice Compliance Alert article on compliance trends for the …
OCR: HIPAA Privacy Rule “Not Set Aside in an Emergency”
The threats to health privacy in the face of the Ebola scare has not escaped the notice of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). As we reported last month, a…
Continue Reading OCR: HIPAA Privacy Rule “Not Set Aside in an Emergency”
Wild West Data Breach Sheriff Wins a Round Back East
LabMD is not the only company that has tried to buck the FTC’s assertion of authority over data security breaches. Wyndham Worldwide Corp. has spent the past year contesting the…
Continue Reading Wild West Data Breach Sheriff Wins a Round Back East
The Wild West of Data Breach Enforcement by the Feds
Imagine you have completed your HIPAA risk assessment and implemented a robust privacy and security plan designed to meet each criteria of the Omnibus Rule. You think that, should you…
Continue Reading The Wild West of Data Breach Enforcement by the Feds
OCR Gets Coal in its Stocking from OIG
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…
Continue Reading OCR Gets Coal in its Stocking from OIG
Ten Days, Ten Tips – Countdown to Omnibus Rule Compliance #10
Here’s the official 10th tip to help you comply with today’s Omnibus Rule deadline. However, since I had to make TIP TWO into TIPs TWO through SEVEN when I…
Continue Reading Ten Days, Ten Tips – Countdown to Omnibus Rule Compliance #10
Ten Days, Ten Tips – Countdown to Omnibus Rule Compliance #2
Unless the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) makes another last-minute, litigation-inspired decision to delay the September 23, 2013 compliance date, we’re well into the 10-day countdown for compliance…
Continue Reading Ten Days, Ten Tips – Countdown to Omnibus Rule Compliance #2
Collateral Effects of the Omnibus Rule: Exercise Caution in Using Past OCR Summaries on Large PHI Breaches as a Roadmap for Future Guidance
While the summaries of closed investigations posted on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services list of breaches of unsecured PHI affecting 500 or more individuals continue to provide highly useful information for covered entities, business associates and subcontractors relative to confronting PHI breaches, large and small, they must be analyzed with appropriate care and attention paid to changes brought about by the recently-published Omnibus Rule.
Continue Reading Collateral Effects of the Omnibus Rule: Exercise Caution in Using Past OCR Summaries on Large PHI Breaches as a Roadmap for Future Guidance