Recently, the head of the House Select Investigative Panel tasked with reviewing the trade of baby body parts by abortion clinics corresponded with the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights asking an investigation into...
Townsend Violated the HIPAA Privacy Rule: OCR Ruling
In a recent ruling the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that a former town administrator of Townsend, MA., violated the HIPAA Privacy Rule in June last year. This occurred when he posted an “information packet” online...
Unauthorized Filming of Patients Sees New York Hospital Fined $2.2 Million
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has fined New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) $2.2 million for permitting patients to be filmed for a TV show without receiving prior permission from the patients. In 2011, an ABC crew was...
Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic to pay 750K for Lack of Business Associate Agreement
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has revealed a compensation settlement has been agreed with Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic, P.A., of North Carolina over alleged breaches of HIPAA Rules. Raleigh Orthopaedic has agreed to pay OCR...
Facebook and Cancer Sites Face Lawsuits for Alleged HIPAA Violation
A legal case has been initiated in Federal Court in San Jose, California by cancer patients who claim they have had their privacy violated after visiting the websites of cancer institutes. The plaintiffs allege that the websites of some cancer institutes contain...
Update for Tennessee Breach Notification Laws
Data violation notification laws in Tennessee have been reviewed to better protect state residents. The new law requires organizations to issue breach notifications to state residents more quickly, while the range of information covered has been widened. When the new...
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in $3.6 Million Settlement with OCR
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has settled potential HIPAA violations for $3.9 million with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. This is the second largest settlement penalty agreed with OCR, just below the $4.8 million...
Lack of BAA and Risk Analysis Failures Lead to $1.55 Million HIPAA Settlement
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has revealed it has reached a settlement with North Memorial Health Care of Minnesota over what is claimed were HIPAA violations arising from a 2011 data breach. North Memorial has agreed to pay...
OCR Clarifies Permitted Uses and Disclosures of PHI
The Office for Civil Rights encourages suggestions from HIPAA-covered bodies about aspects of HIPAA that are unclear or need further clarification. Some of the inquiries submitted via the OCR website indicate some covered bodies are struggling to comprehend the Health...
2013 Security Report on South Carolina’s Medicaid Agency Published by OIG
A report of an investigation into South Carolina’s Medicaid agency by The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General has been published The investigation was carried out in 2013 following the 2012 hacking of the Revenue Department and a...
25K HIPAA Violation Settlement Agreed to by Physical Therapy Provider
OCR has revealed it has come at a settlement with a Los Angeles-based provider of physical therapy services after the discovery of HIPAA Privacy Rule breaches in 2012. Complete P.T., Pool & Land Physical Therapy, Inc., (CPT) has said they will pay a fine of...
HIPAA Violation Costs Lincare $239,800
OCR has ordered a HIPAA-covered entity to pay civil monetary penalties for HIPAA breaches. Lincare Inc. must to pay $239,800 for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule which were found during the investigation of a complaint about a breach of 278 patient records. The...
Law Firms are not Complying with HIPAA Rules: Survey
A recent survey carried out by Legal Workspace suggests that many are not. In fact, most health attorneys are not in adherence with HIPAA Rules and have failed to implement the appropriate technical, administrative, and physical measures to keep PHI/PII secure. Legal...
Healthcare Pager and Fax Replacement Launched by TigerText
TigertText has revealed the launch of two new communication solutions for healthcare providers. The two new devices have clear potential, and could convince many healthcare providers to start replacing pagers and faxes. The new products, named TigerPage &...
Head of TigerConnect Explains Slow Pace of Technology Adaptation in Health Sector
The healthcare industry trails well behind every other industry sector when it comes to implementing new technology. It is an acknowledged fact that the sector appears to dear change, even when those alterations stand to significantly improve the lot of patients. With...
Upgrade Internet Explorer to Remain HIPAA Compliant
Microsoft will be stopping support and security updates for Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 as of Wednesday January 12, 2016. All users of Internet Explorer must switch to Internet Explorer 11, or make the switch over to Microsoft Edge, in order to continue receiving...
Oregon Breach Notification Law Now Applicable
Organizations operating in Oregon must now adhere with a new data breach law that came into effect on January 1, 2016. If a data breach that exposes the personal information of more than 250 state residents is experienced, a breach notice must be filed to the Oregon...
New Guidance on Patient Data Access Issued by OCR
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has started 2016 with the launch of a brand new website interface, and has now followed up on previous assurance by issuing new guidance on HIPAA. This is the first in what is expected to be a...
False Advertising of Data Encryption lands 20-Year Consent Order and $250K FTC Fine for Henry Schein
The FTC has also ordered Henry Schein Practice Solutions, Inc., to pay a fine of $250,000, and the company must also comply with a 20-year consent order after a recent ruling said the company had “falsely advertised the level of encryption it provided to protect...
NICS Reports Now Permitted Under HIPAA Privacy Rules
The Department of Health and Human Services has revealed a final rule permitting certain covered bodies to disclose specific elements of Protected Health Information (PHI) to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), altering the HIPAA Privacy...
Long Awaited Upgrade for OCR Website
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights website has completed a redesigned recently, upgrading with new features, a responsive design and a more user-friendly feel. The redesign was part of the Reimagined HHS.gov project. The aim was to...
Phishing Simulation Exercises Valuable: Official Study
The Office for Civil Rights recently release its first financial penalty to an organization that experienced a data violation after its staff responded to a phishing campaign. The case lead to The University of Washington Medicine agreeing to a $750,000 fine to settle...
Omnibus Bill Addresses Healthcare Cybersecurity
New cybersecurity measures specifically for the healthcare industry have been added to the Omnibus bill signed into law by Congress late last week. The aim of their inclusion is to help healthcare organizations tackle the growing danger of cyberattacks, and supply...
HIPAA Compliant Texting App for Desktops Launched by TigerText
TigerText, the largest supplier of secure text messaging solutions, has revealed the its latest initiative, TigerText Anywhere: A HIPAA compliant secure texting app for desktop computing. TigerText’s HIPAA compliant text message platform has already been a great...
Security Vulnerabilities at Medi-Cal MCOs Revealed in OIG Audit
The Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General has recently published the results of information system reviews conducted on three Californian Medicaid managed-care organizations (MCOs), revealinf numerous, significant security...
New HIPAA Self-Assessment Tool Launched by Day Pitney Ahead of Compliance Audits
Day Pitney LLP has launch of a new HIPAA Self-Assessment Tool just before of the second round of Dept. Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights HIPAA-compliance audits. The law firm, with approximately 300 attorneys in it its Connecticut, New Jersey, New...
University of Washington Medicine School Fined $750,000
University of Washington Medicine has agreed to settle a HIPAA fine of $750,000, for potential HIPAA violations with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, arising from a 90,000-record data breach experienced in 2013. There has been an...
NY Attorney General HIPAA Fine for URMC
An HIPAA fine of $15,000 has been issued by the attorney general to University of Rochester Medical Center for a breach of patient privacy that happened in March, 2015. It is not only the Office for Civil Rights that issues financial penalties for violations of HIPAA...
HIPAA Violation Fine $3.5 Million for Triple-S
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has agreed a HIPAA violation fine of $3.5 million with Puerto Rico Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee Triple S Management Corporation. This is the second HIPAA violation fine to be revealed in the space...
Improper Disposal of PHI: Texas Attorney General Takes Action
A legal case has been filed by the Texas attorney general’s office against Alliance Health Management & Consulting Inc., for the improper disposal of Protected Health Information (PHI) of patients. The home healthcare management company is no longer operating,...
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