Covered entities beware: a timing pitfall lurks within the recently adopted rules prohibiting information blocking. We have posted about OCR’s “Right to Access Initiative” and numerous enforcement actions taken to make sure that covered entities respond to patient access requests in a timely manner. The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires covered entities to respond to access
ONC
“I Have an App for That”: ONC’s Information Blocking Rule and HIPAA Access Rights
By Elizabeth G. Litten on
Posted in Health IT, Uncategorized
A patient asks her doctor to send her test results to an app the patient has downloaded on her phone. The doctor worries that the app is not secure and that the patient might not understand the security risks. What should the doctor do?
Covered entity health care providers and their business associates likely need…
Health Information Technology in NJ – Where Are We Now?
By Elizabeth Litten on
Posted in Health IT, RHIO & HIE
Part 2
Money talks.
In other words, offering financial incentives is one way to effect behavior change. It seems to have worked in getting providers to adopt and use health IT in everyday practice, both in New Jersey and nationally.
HITECH and Meaningful Use Incentive Payments
As explained by ONC in its October 2014 “…
Health Information Technology in NJ – Where Are We Now?
By Elizabeth Litten on
Posted in Health IT, RHIO & HIE
When I need to travel from the southern part of NJ to northern NJ, I often rely on my car or phone GPS and the relative ease and simplicity of the NJ Turnpike. If I needed my southern NJ physician to share information with my northern NJ physician, I might be surprised to learn that…
Basic HIPAA Question for Mobile Health Application Developers: What Are You?
By Elizabeth Litten on
Posted in Health IT, Privacy & Security
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 ranging from diabetes management to mole or rash evaluation to fitness tracking. Smart mobile app developers wondering when and how HIPAA privacy and security requirements…
Wild West Data Breach Sheriff Wins a Round Back East
By Elizabeth Litten on
Posted in HIPAA Enforcement
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 FTC’s authority to pursue enforcement actions based upon companies’ alleged “unfair” or “unreasonable” data security practices. On Monday, April 7, 2014, the United States District…
Ten Days, Ten Tips – Countdown to Omnibus Rule Compliance #10
By Elizabeth Litten on
Posted in HIPAA Enforcement
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 realized my time had was running out, I will continue to blog a few more tips over the coming weeks. I expect that at least…
Ten Days, Ten Tips – Countdown to Omnibus Rule Compliance #2
By Elizabeth Litten on
Posted in HIPAA Enforcement
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 with most of the Omnibus Rule requirements. Here’s “TIP TWO” (however, since I’ve listed 6 specific tips here, I may need to count these as…