30 Senators Call for HIPAA Privacy Rule Update to Better Protect Women’s Privacy
A group of 30 senators is urging the Department of Health and Human Services to update the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to better protect the privacy of patients’...
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August 2022 Healthcare Data Breach Report
For the third successive month, the number of healthcare data breaches reported to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has fallen, with 49 breaches of 500 or more...
View ArticleGAO: HHS Should Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Telehealth and Help...
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently conducted a review of Medicare telehealth services provided during the COVID-19 pandemic, when a waiver was in place that greatly expanded access to...
View ArticleCalifornia Governor Signs Package of Bills to Improve Protections for...
California has taken further steps to improve protections for individuals seeking abortion care and birth control. A package of bills has recently been signed into law by state governor Gavin Newsom,...
View ArticleCommonSpirit Health Confirms System Outages Caused by Ransomware Attack
On October 3, 2022, CommonSpirit Health experienced a data security incident that forced it to take systems offline, including its electronic medical record (EHR) and other critical IT systems. These...
View ArticleAdvocate Aurora Health: Website Tracking Code May Have Impermissibly...
A second health system has announced that patient data has been impermissibly passed to Meta (Facebook) as a result of the inclusion of Meta Pixel tracking code on its website. First came Novant...
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September 2022 Healthcare Data Breach Report
63 data breaches of 500 or more records were reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights in September, bringing an end to the downward trend in data breaches seen over the previous three months....
View ArticleWakeMed Announces Meta Pixel-Related Breach Affecting 495,000 Patients
WakeMed Health and Hospitals, a health system with multiple healthcare facilities in metropolitan Raleigh, NC, has recently notified around 495,000 patients that some of their protected health...
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Meta Facing Scrutiny Over Use of Meta Pixel Tracking Code on Hospital Websites
Meta is facing further scrutiny of its privacy practices related to its Meta Pixel JavaScript code, which has been added to the websites and web applications of many U.S. hospitals to allow them to...
View ArticleCHIME Urges FTC to Stringently Enforce Health Breach Notification Rule
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) has recently provided feedback to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on the Trade...
View ArticleAdvocate Aurora Health and WakeMed Sued Over Meta Pixel Privacy Breaches
Two class action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of patients whose protected health information (PHI) was impermissibly disclosed to Meta/Facebook as a result of the use of the Meta Pixel JavaScript...
View ArticleCybersecurity is Now a Patient Safety Issue, Suggests Sen. Warner In...
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has recently published a white paper – Cybersecurity is Patient Safety – that highlights the current cybersecurity...
View ArticleHIPAA Social Media Rules
HIPAA was enacted several years before social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram existed, so there are no specific HIPAA social media rules. However, organizations subject to HIPAA – and...
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October 2022 Healthcare Data Breach Report
October was the worst month of the year to date for healthcare data breaches, with 71 breaches reported and more than 6 million records breached. The first half of the year was looking like 2022 would...
View ArticleState AGs Urge Apple to Improve Privacy and Security Controls for...
A group of 10 state Attorney Generals recently wrote to Apple CEO, Tim Cook, urging the company to implement stronger privacy and security controls for applications available through the Apple App...
View ArticlePrivacy Risks Identified in Websites Used to Deliver Opioid Addiction...
An alarming number of websites used to deliver opioid addiction treatment and recovery services contain data sharing and privacy risks, according to a new report from the Opioid Policy Institute (OPI)...
View ArticleHHS, SAMHSA Propose Update to Improve Alignment of HIPAA Privacy Rule and 42...
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) detailing changes to the...
View ArticleWhat is a HIPAA Violation?
To best answer the question what is a HIPAA violation, it is necessary to explain what HIPAA is, who it applies to, and what constitutes a violation; for although most people believe they know what a...
View ArticleOCR Confirms Use of Website and Other Tracking Technologies Without a BAA is...
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights has issued a bulletin confirming that the use of third-party tracking technologies on websites, web applications, and mobile apps without a business associate agreement...
View ArticleFTC and HHS Update Online Compliance Tool for Mobile Health App Developers
Developers of mobile health apps may be required to comply with certain federal laws such as the FTC Act, FTC Health Breach Notification Rule, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Health...
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