By Matt Fisher – Prior to the changeover of the administration, the HHS Office for Civil Rights went on a bit of a HIPAA settlement bender. The fast pace of announced settlements felt a bit like a clearing of the decks. The various settlements continued recent trends around the issues being selected by OCR for settlement along with the still random amount of settlements.
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The proposed rule would modify the HIPAA Security Rule to require health plans, health care clearinghouses, and most health care providers, and their business associates, to strengthen cybersecurity protections for individuals’ protected health information.
By Matt Fisher – 2024 cannot end without a further wrinkle on the HIPAA front. Earlier in the year, the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services modified the HIPAA Privacy Rule by adding language specific to reproductive health care and reproductive health care services.
By Jay Trinckes – In recent years, healthcare organizations have struggled to address the rising number of data breaches and cyberattacks plaguing the industry. The Change Healthcare breach in particular caused the exposure of the protected health information of as many as one in three Americans earlier this year.
By Matt Fisher – The HHS Office for Civil Rights is finishing 2024 with a flurry of HIPAA settlements and there is still more time to go. Each settlement offers a different insight into necessary compliance and oversight activities.
By Matt Fisher – The HHS Office for Civil Rights continues to pursue enforcement actions when alleged non-compliance occurs following a right of access request. Not every settlement provides the same degree of insight or ability to follow OCR’s line of thinking though. That is the case stemming from the latest civil monetary penalty announced by OCR.
By Matt Fisher – The Office for Civil Rights announced the latest in its ongoing series of settlements or penalties stemming from individual right of access issues under HIPAA on October 17, 2024, which also happens to be the fiftieth such settlement.
By Matt Fisher -The so far long and tangled path for tracking technology and HIPAA in healthcare appears it will end with a whimper. It is being reported that the federal Department of Health and Human Services dropped its appeal of the decision from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas…
By Matthew Fisher – The Office for Civil Rights continues to dig into reports about delayed access to records by covered entities. The initial flurry of resolutions from many years ago now has not necessarily resulted in a significant change of behavior, which is frankly a bit surprising.