PharMerica and its subsidiary Amerita’s Specialty Infusion Services (Amerita) are already facing class action lawsuits after patients received a September 5, 2023, data breach notification letter. When the businesses detected suspicious activity on both the PharMerica and Amerita networks, a forensic investigation determined that a threat actor had gained access to the systems sometime in
patient information
DOJ Announces Criminal Conviction of Physician for HIPAA Violation
By Conor Duffy on
On April 30, 2018, a Massachusetts physician was convicted of a criminal violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), as well as one count of obstruction of a criminal health care investigation, in a Massachusetts federal court. The convictions relate to the purported sharing of confidential patient information by the…
OCR Clarifies Privacy Rule for Sharing PHI on Opioid Overdoses
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in HIPAA and Health Information
In the wake of the national opioid overdose crisis, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has provided clarification on when covered entities are permitted to disclose patient information during opioid emergencies.
The OCR commented that some health care providers believe that they must have the patient’s consent in order to share information with family members about a patient’s opioid overdose.
The OCR has clarified that health care providers may share limited protected health information in natural disasters and during drug overdoses, if sharing the information could prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to a patient’s health or safety.
Continue Reading OCR Clarifies Privacy Rule for Sharing PHI on Opioid Overdoses