The Pulse

Breach Report Begets Settlement

By Matt Fisher – Whenever an entity subject to HIPAA experiences a data breach, notification must be given to the Office for Civil Rights. Once OCR receives notification of a breach, an investigation will typically follow. That combination is a sure way for broader issues to be uncovered. That is the scenario that played out in the most recent settlement announced by OCR.

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Always Listening, Always Leaking?

By Matt Fisher – Ambient listening technology is growing in many areas and being incorporated into a lot of different applications. What does the ambient listening do? It automatically picks up conversations and other sounds around it to be processed for one purpose or another.


HIPAA as Standard of Care

By Matt Fisher – A March 2021 decision by the Arizona Supreme Court recognized that obligations and requirements under HIPAA can be the standard of care underpinning a claim of negligence. The Arizona decision is only the most recent in a line of similar decisions by various states. However, what does it mean for HIPAA to act as the standard of care?


Privacy Policy Ponderings

By Matt Fisher – Most if not all websites will (or should) contain a link to a Privacy Policy at the bottom of the page. The Privacy Policy will in either great or vague detail describe what information is collected, how the information will be used, and potentially what rights are given to the user.


Telehealth: Onward and Upward

By Matt Fisher – It should be well known that telehealth achieved rapid adoption and expansion throughout the course of the pandemic. The adoption and expansion was the result of many emergency orders though that will only remain in place while a public health emergency declaration is in place.