protected health information

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More than eleven years have passed since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency responsible for the privacy of protected health information under HIPAA, and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), the agency responsible for the privacy of student records under FERPA, issued joint guidance on the interplay between HIPAA and…

You may be surprised to learn that those “extra” benefits your company offers to its employees such as your employee assistance program (“EAP”) and wellness program likely are subject to the HIPAA privacy, security and breach notification rules (collectively, “HIPAA Rules”). Part 1 covers why most EAPs are subject to the HIPAA Rules. Part 2…

Our partner Elizabeth Litten and I were recently featured again by our good friend Marla Durben Hirsch in her article in the April 2017 issue of Medical Practice Compliance Alert entitled “Business associates who farm out work create more risks for your patients’ PHI.” Full text can be found in the April, 2017 issue, but…

The aftermath of the Orlando nightclub tragedy has led to much discussion about ways that healthcare providers can and should deal with compliance with health information privacy requirements in the face of disasters that injure or sicken many individuals in a limited time frame. One aspect is the pressure to treat patients while simultaneously fulfilling…

My heart goes out to any family member trying desperately to get news about a loved one in the hours and days following an individual or widespread tragedy, irrespective of whether it was triggered by an act of nature, an act of terrorism, or any other violent, unanticipated, life-taking event. My mind, though, struggles with…

Daily struggles to protect personal data from hacking, phishing, theft and loss make it easy to forget that HIPAA is not just about privacy and security.  It also requires covered entities (CEs) to make an individual’s protected health information (PHI) accessible to the individual in all but a few, very limited circumstances.  Recent guidance published…

This week’s headlines read: “Scalia’s death probably linked to obesity, diabetes and coronary artery disease, physician says” and “Scalia suffered from many health problems”.   An article from a couple of weeks ago, immediately following reports of Justice Scalia’s February 13th death, reported that Scalia’s doctor said he had chronic cardiovascular…