The State of California is once again leading the way with trying to keep up with technology and protecting consumers. Senate Bill 327 requires Internet of Things (IoT) developers to implement “reasonable security features”...more
10/1/2018
/ Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Blockchain ,
COPPA ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Protection ,
Drones ,
Fingerprints ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Hackers ,
Hurricane Florence ,
Insurance Claims ,
Internet of Things ,
Online Safety for Children ,
Passwords ,
Popular ,
Property Damage ,
Settlement ,
State Farm ,
Uber
The United States Senate is currently considering bipartisan legislation that would establish statutory limits on the financial exposure of certain patients to so-called “surprise” medical bills....more
In late August, the Attorney General of the State of New York announced a $200,000 settlement with a New York-based non-profit organization that provides services to developmentally disabled individuals and their families...more
On August 17, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems final rule for Fiscal Year 2019 (Final Rule). The Final Rule contains a number of important...more
On September 17, 2018, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services published a favorable Advisory Opinion allowing a manufacturer of surgical devices and wound care products to offer a...more
9/20/2018
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospitals ,
Manufacturers ,
Medical Devices ,
OIG ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Product Defects ,
Warranties ,
Written Agreements
In late August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a long-awaited decision in U.S. ex rel. Rose v. Stephens Institute that interprets key aspects of the implied false certification theory of False Claims...more
9/20/2018
/ Appeals ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Educational Institutions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
False Implied Certification Theory ,
Federal Contractors ,
Implied Certification ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Materiality ,
Summary Judgment ,
Universal Health Services Inc v United States ex rel Escobar
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced two significant False Claims Act (FCA) settlements in recent days that signal continued close government scrutiny of billing, coding and referral practices at hospitals....more
8/9/2018
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Coding ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Billing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospitals ,
Kickbacks ,
Medicare ,
Patient Referrals ,
Stark Law
We have previously reported on the ongoing cybersecurity issues with St. Jude defibrillators [view related posts here, here, and here]. On June 29, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classified the required firmware...more
7/16/2018
/ Adidas ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Drones ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Emergency Response ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Hackers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
HIPAA Breach ,
Medical Devices ,
Mobile Apps ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Regulatory Violations ,
St Jude Medical Center ,
Wildfires
On July 9, 2018, Cass Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in Harrisonville, Missouri was hit with a ransomware attack that led to a complete shutdown of its electronic health record (EHR) and the diversion of trauma and stroke...more
Just weeks after Mexico’s central bank was targeted by hackers who stole $15 million, Chile’s biggest bank, Banco de Chile, announced on May 28, 2018, that it had been struck by a “virus” that affected its workstations,...more
7/2/2018
/ Banks ,
Carpenter v US ,
Cell Phones ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Exchange ,
Data Breach ,
Drones ,
Electronic Records ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Exigent Circumstances ,
Fourth Amendment ,
Geolocation ,
Hackers ,
Harassment ,
Identity Theft ,
Location Data ,
location-da ,
Malware ,
NYDFS ,
Probable Cause ,
Reasonable Expectation of Privacy ,
Registration Requirement ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Robocalling ,
SCOTUS ,
Third-Party ,
Warrantless Searches
On May 16, 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia announced that it had entered into the “largest hospital drug diversion civil penalty settlement in U.S. History” in the amount of $4.1 million...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ), recently intervened in a civil False Claims Act (FCA) case filed against Insys Therapeutics, Inc. (Insys) in the Central District of California that alleges FCA violations arising from the...more
Bezop Cryptocurrency Investors’ Personal Information Exposed -
Kromtech Security has reported that the sensitive personal information of more than 25,000 investors of Bezop cryptocurrency was exposed when a MongoDB...more
5/4/2018
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Digital Currency ,
Drones ,
Hackers ,
Health Care Providers ,
HIPAA Breach ,
Hospitality Industry ,
PHI ,
Smart Devices ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
Virtual Currency
On April 30, 2018 a Massachusetts physician was convicted of a criminal violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), as well as one count of obstruction of a criminal health care...more
“Orangeworm” Targeting Health Care Industry -
In what is being called a systematic targeting of large health care organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and IT companies and equipment manufacturers that service the...more
4/27/2018
/ Blue Shield ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Data Breach ,
Digital Currency ,
Drones ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Hackers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Devices ,
Personal Data ,
PHI ,
Risk Management ,
Scams ,
September 11th Victim Compensation Fund ,
SunTrust ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
US v Microsoft ,
Virtual Currency
As had been expected following the passage of the CLOUD Act by Congress last month, the U.S. Supreme Court remanded and ordered the dismissal of the pending United States v. Microsoft Corporation, Inc. case in a per curiam...more
4/24/2018
/ CLOUD Act ,
Cloud Storage ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Dismissals ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
International Litigation ,
Mootness ,
SCOTUS ,
Search Warrant ,
Stored Communications Act ,
Subpoenas ,
US v Microsoft
In an order issued on April 16, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to file a brief “expressing the views of the United States” concerning the 2017 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth...more
On the heels of the ransomware that had the City of Atlanta scrambling last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of “NYC Secure,” a free mobile app that will alert New York City residents of...more
4/10/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Cambridge Analytica ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Drones ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Facebook ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Part 107 ,
Personal Data ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Ransomware ,
Social Media ,
State Data Breach Notification Statutes ,
Taxi Cabs ,
US v Microsoft
On March 30, 2018, Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Microsoft Corporation that seeks to vacate the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...more
On March 30, 2018 Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Microsoft Corporation that seeks to vacate the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...more
4/5/2018
/ Cloud Storage ,
Criminal Investigations ,
e-Discovery Professionals ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
International Litigation ,
Ireland ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Right to Privacy ,
SCOTUS ,
Search Warrant ,
Stored Communications Act ,
Subpoenas ,
US v Microsoft
A series of criminal and civil enforcement actions announced in recent weeks demonstrate the continued attention that state regulators throughout the Northeast are placing on health care fraud. ...more
4/2/2018
/ Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Billing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Identity Theft ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Opioid ,
Pain Management ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
Power Company Fined for Contractor Copying Data to its Own Insecure Network -
Vendor management continues to be a problem for all industries, but some are scarier than others. The North American Electric Reliability Corp....more
3/30/2018
/ Asset Management ,
Cloud Storage ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Driverless Cars ,
Drones ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Energy Sector ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
FERC ,
Fraud ,
Identity Theft ,
Infrastructure ,
NERC ,
NIST ,
Part 107 ,
Popular ,
Social Security ,
State Data Breach Notification Statutes ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
Utilities Sector ,
Vulnerability Assessments
On March 23, 2018, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (H.R. 1625), an omnibus spending bill that includes the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (the CLOUD Act)....more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently resolved two health care fraud cases – one criminal and one civil – that demonstrate the government’s continued scrutiny of lavish meals and “speaker’s bureaus” sponsored by...more
U.S. Estimates that Cyber Hacks Cost Up to $109 Billion in 20 -
The Council for Economic Advisors (CEA) issued a report this month, entitled “The Cost of Malicious Cyber Activity to the U.S. Economy,” which concludes that...more
2/26/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
Bitcoin ,
Class Action ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Currency ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Drones ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
Hackers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Malware ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
TCPA ,
Virtual Currency