Tag Archives: HIPAA

OCR’s Relaxed Enforcement of HIPAA During COVID-19 Paves The Way For Increase in Telehealth Services

By Catherine R. Tucciarello on Posted in: Healthcare
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the country, doctors, dentists, therapists and other healthcare providers have turned to telehealth use with their patients by way of videoconferencing applications such as Zoom, Skype and WebEx. The Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Health and Human Services (“OCR”) defines telehealth as “the use … Continue Reading

OCR HIPAA Guidance For Getting PHI of COVID-19 Exposed Individuals to First Responders

By Joseph J. Lazzarotti on Posted in: Healthcare
With first responders on the front lines of helping to fight the coronavirus, sharing information about potential exposure to COVID-19 is critical to protecting them and preventing further spread. In these situations, the information shared is most often “protected health information” (PHI) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. … Continue Reading

Coronavirus Raises Privacy Concerns for Healthcare Providers and their Workers

By Joseph J. Lazzarotti on Posted in: Healthcare
The outbreak of a new coronavirus that is believed to have began in central Chinese city of Wuhan and now appears to be spreading to the United States is driving concerns for organizations around preparedness regarding their operations, their customers, and their employees. In the healthcare sector, as with prior contagious disease outbreaks, fears about … Continue Reading

Healthcare Organizations, Is Your Patient Portal Secure?

By Michael R. Bertoncini and Valerie K. Jackson on Posted in: Healthcare
While healthcare organizations are embracing new technologies such as patient portals, a recent report shows that organizations’ cybersecurity measures for these technologies are behind the times. A patient portal is a secure online website that allows patients to access their Electronic Health Record from any device with an Internet connection. Many patient portals also allow … Continue Reading

HIPAA Penalties Change Under HHS Notice of Enforcement Discretion

By Joseph J. Lazzarotti on Posted in: Healthcare
Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a notification of enforcement discretion changing its interpretation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 resulting in a reduction in the amount of the cumulative annual penalty limit for violations of HIPAA. Our colleagues in the Privacy, Data and Cybersecurity … Continue Reading

Small Michigan Medical Practice to Close Following Ransomware Attack

By Joseph J. Lazzarotti on Posted in: Healthcare
Small and midsized enterprises (SMEs) continue to be targeted by ransomware, phishing and other cyberattacks; the consequences of which could be devastating. Those consequences include putting SMEs out of business, which is unfortunately the case for one small medical practice in Battle Creek, Michigan, as reported by HIPAAJournal. Our colleagues in the Privacy, Data and Cybersecurity … Continue Reading

Is your e-PHI Secure? ONC and OCR Update HIPAA Security Risk Assessment Tool

By Valerie K. Jackson and Jason C. Gavejian on Posted in: Healthcare
October 2018 marks the 15th annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month. In honor of this occasion, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) have jointly launched an updated HIPAA Security Risk Assessment (SRA) Tool to help covered entities and business associates comply with … Continue Reading

Top 7 Legal Challenges Facing Physicians and Hospitals

By Tiffany A. Buckley-Norwood and Michael R. Bertoncini on Posted in: Healthcare
The American Health Lawyers Association’s 2018 Physicians and Hospitals Law Institute in New Orleans focused on the legal challenges faced by physicians and hospitals. Here are the Jackson Lewis Healthcare Industry Team’s “Top 7” takeaways from the attorneys who attended the conference: Healthcare and labor & employment law are hot. According to Law360, Labor & … Continue Reading

Hospital Worker Fails To Show That Termination For HIPAA Violation Was Discriminatory

By Michael R. Bertoncini on Posted in: Discrimination Claim Risk Avoidance, Privacy
A hospital lawfully terminated an employee for improperly accessing a co-worker’s lab results and refusing to admit to doing so, a federal district court in Mississippi has found in Cosby v. Vicksburg Healthcare, LLC D/B/A River Region Medical Center, et al., No. 5:11cv159-KS-MTP (S.D. Miss. May 16, 2013), rejecting the former employee’s claim of discrimination.   … Continue Reading
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