On November 30, 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives voted strongly in favor of the 21st Century Cures Act (the Act), an expansive health bill that addresses the discovery and development of new medical therapies as well the delivery of health care treatment by providers. In 2015, the House had previously approved an earlier version … Continue Reading
On May 24, 2016, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) issued guidance (Guidance) to health care providers and patient safety organizations (PSOs) in an attempt to clarify the definition of patient safety work product (PSWP) under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 and its implementing regulations (collectively, the PSQIA). The … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released a compendium (Compendium) of its top unimplemented recommendations. The Compendium comprises 25 unimplemented past OIG recommendations that the OIG believes could have a positive impact on HHS programs in terms of cost savings and/or quality improvements. The Compendium’s recommendations … Continue Reading
The Office for Civil Rights has provided additional educational materials for app developers through the app developers portal that it developed last fall. The new material is intended to assist healthcare entities and software developers to learn from different scenarios that explain when HIPAA applies to mobile health apps and when it doesn’t. In particular, … Continue Reading
On February 5, 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued proposes changes to the Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records regulations, also known as “Part 2 records” which were published in the Federal Register on February 9, 2016. Significantly, the proposed changes update Part 2, which was originally enacted in … Continue Reading
On September 2, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced that Cancer Care Group, P.C. (CCG), a physician practice located in Indiana, agreed to pay $750,000 as part of a settlement to resolve alleged violations of HIPAA’s Security and Privacy Rules. The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) initiated an investigation … Continue Reading
The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee issued a report late last week that the information security of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has substantial weaknesses. Several incidents that occurred between 2012 and 2014 indicated that several agencies were compromised or attacked without the agency’s knowledge. In one instance, the report … Continue Reading
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released a fact sheet on the privacy, security, and breach notification rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Designed to apply to HIPAA-covered entities, including health care organizations, health care plans, providers, and their business associates, the fact sheet provides a basic overview … Continue Reading
