A single incident that may have started as a personal vendetta or an extortion threat seven years ago has cost a Florida health care system $800,000, and comes on the heels of an unrelated breach suffered by a different...more
It’s not immediately obvious why someone would want to disclose a health care test result as part of a job application. But one such request spurred a Pennsylvania entity to provide a lot more than that: it sent her whole...more
Last week, HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with a Pennsylvania provider (the Provider) concerning an alleged violation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Specifically, the Provider impermissibly disclosed a...more
On July 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office For Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a $950,000 settlement with Heritage Valley Health System (“Heritage Valley”) and a three-year Corrective...more
The Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) are among a handful of groups “urging the Biden administration to rescind a policy proposal that would threaten the American...more
On June 28, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement (resolution agreement and corrective action plan) with iHealth Solutions (also known as Advantum Health)...more
On April 26, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a fact sheet on Hospital Price Transparency Enforcement Updates (the “Fact Sheet”) under the Hospital Price Transparency Rule (the “Rule”)....more
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently submitted two annual reports to Congress setting forth a summary of complaints and breaches reported to the OCR during...more
Durable medical equipment (DME) is particularly important for many Medicare beneficiaries. However, companies that manufacture and sell DME need to be careful because there are strict federal regulations outlining almost...more
A recent settlement agreement between a clinical laboratory and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to resolve potential HIPAA Security Rule violations proves to be a...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) is tasked with combating fraud under Medicare, Medicaid, and other federally funded healthcare programs. ...more
For those providers who somehow missed or ignored the first 15 settlements in the series, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that Sharp HealthCare, doing...more
Report on Patient Privacy 20, no. 10 (October 2020) - September was quite the month for enforcement actions by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The agency announced eight settlements totaling more than $10 million....more
Report on Patient Privacy 20, no. 1 (January 2020) - In the waning days of 2019, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) didn’t halt the HIPAA enforcement momentum it had built up during the last quarter of the year, dinging...more