Health Law

FTC Issues Proposed Rules for Security Breach Notification under HITECH

Posted on April 17, 2009
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) posted its proposed rule today implementing new breach notification requirements for health records, which were required to be promulgated by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health ("HITECH") Act...

HIPAA Reminder Notice Due April 14th for Large Health Plans

Posted on April 12, 2009
The recent changes to HIPAA brought about by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and its Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health  (HITECH) Act have received a lot of attention, as of late...

Massachusetts Hospital Rescues "Orphan" Medical Records

Posted on April 08, 2009
The abandoned records of an Acton, Massachusetts physician who abruptly closed his office have been saved from the shredder by the last-minute intervention of a local hospital, highlighting a potential gap in state law that may leave patients unprotected in similar situations...

NYT, NEJM Report Doctors Not "Sold" on EHRs

Posted on March 27, 2009
 Posted by William H. Maruca, Esq.  The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act has been called the most significant legislation to ever address health information technology, but it is no cure-all, say many physicians...

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CDT Releases HITECH - HIPAA Guidance

Posted on March 27, 2009
The Center for Democracy and Technology ("CDT") has released a great guidance document that compares the requirements under the newly-enacted HITECH Act against HIPAA, and highlights specific changes resulting from this new legislation...

HITECH, Red Flags, HIPAA and Updating Privacy & Security Programs

Posted on March 25, 2009
Since HIPAA and its related Privacy and Security Rules went into effect for health care providers, there have been a number of new laws and regulations passed that impact the policy, procedures and overall privacy and security approach for many health care organizations...

CVS Reaches $2.25 Million Settlement Agreement

Posted on February 18, 2009
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Trade Commission announced today that CVS will pay the U.S. government a $2.25 million settlement and take corrective action in connection with the government finding that CVS had violated the HIPAA Privacy Rule by failing to safeguard identifying information during disposal...

HITECH Act Signed Into Law - High Hope Follows

Posted on February 17, 2009
Today, President Obama signed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (known as the "HITECH Act") into law. The final version of HITECH Act is posted on the Library of Congress' THOMAS website. The HITECH Act addresses various aspects relating to the use of health information technology ("H...

HITECH Act Signed Into Law - High Hopes Follow

Posted on February 17, 2009
Today, President Obama signed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (known as the "HITECH Act") into law. The final version of HITECH Act is posted on the Library of Congress' THOMAS website. The HITECH Act addresses various aspects relating to the use of health information technology ("H...

OCR Revamps Privacy Website

Posted on February 12, 2009
The Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights has posted its new Web site, and reports that the health information privacy pages have been "extensively revised to improve organization and ease of use for consumers, covered entities and others seeking reliable advice on the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the Patient Safety Rule...

Secure Those Social Security Numbers!

Posted on February 04, 2009
On December 15, 2008, the Division of Consumer Affairs ("DCA") published its Notice of Pre-Proposed Rule for "Identity Theft, Written Security Programs and Violations."  Comments to the Pre-Proposed Rule are due February 13, 2009...

Will Federal Privacy Requirements Be Getting More Stringent?

Posted on January 26, 2009
The Center for Democracy and Technology ("CDT") released a major policy paper today that is intended to move the health privacy debate to consider more effective privacy protection of patient information. The CDT is advocating for the inclusion of privacy protections in the President's economic stimulus bill, which contains at least $20 billion for a national health information technology network...

Moving Info through NHIN is "In" for 2009

Posted on December 19, 2008
pThe National Health Information Network (NHIN) may get information moving as early as the first quarter of 2009.nbsp; Innbsp;itsnbsp;December 16th a href="http://ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/nhin-pr.htm"Press Release/a,nbsp;the Social Security Administration (SSA) indicates that it will begin receiving medical records for some disability applicants via the quot;MedVirginiaquot; health information exchange (HIE) based in Richmond...

Moving Info through NHIN is "In" for 2009

Posted on December 19, 2008
The National Health Information Network (NHIN) may get information moving as early as the first quarter of 2009.  In its December 16th Press Release, the Social Security Administration (SSA) indicates that it will begin receiving medical records for some disability applicants via the "MedVirginia" health information exchange (HIE) based in Richmond...

Feds Post New Guidance Document

Posted on December 16, 2008
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has published a new HIPAA Privacy Rule guidance as part of its "Privacy and Security Toolkit" (the "Toolkit") developed in connection with "The Nationwide Privacy and Security Framework for Electronic Exchange of Individually Identifiable Health Information" (the "HIE Framework")...

Feds Post New Guidance Document

Posted on December 16, 2008
pThe Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has publishednbsp;a new HIPAA Privacy Rule guidancenbsp;as part of its quot;Privacy and Security Toolkitquot; (the quot;Toolkitquot;)nbsp;developed in connection with strongquot;The Nationwide Privacy and Security Framework for Electronic Exchange of Individually Identifiable Health Informationquot; /strong(the quot;HIE Frameworkquot;)...

Joint Commission Throws "HIT's" Weight In the Ring

Posted on November 20, 2008
The Joint Commission released a Report today titled "Health Care at the Crossroads: Guiding Principles for the Development of the Hospital of the Future" that, among other things, emphasizes that health information technology ("HIT") will be key to hospitals' viability in the future...

HIT Bills, Bills, and More Bills [*sic*]

Posted on November 15, 2008
Health information technology (HIT) bills continue to abound in Congress.   Recently, House bill (HR 6898) was introduced by House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark, which includes proposed penalties for providers who do not adopt HIT by a certain date...

IDENTITY THEFT RED FLAG COMPLIANCE DEADLINE DELAYED TO May 1st.

Posted on October 22, 2008
The Federal Trade Commission issued an announcement today that the deadline to implement the Red Flag requirements pertaining to identity theft has been delayed for six months, making the new compliance deadline May 1, 2009.  In its Enforcement Policy Statement, the FTC states: During the course of the [FTC]’s education and outreach efforts following publication of the rule, the [FTC] has learned that some industries and entities within the FTC’s jurisdiction have expressed confusion and uncertainty about their coverage under the rule...

Conference - Current State of Health IT

Posted on October 22, 2008
The e-Health Initiative will host its fifth annual conference and awards dinner December 3–5 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.   According the organization's website, policymakers, decision-makers, and national, state and local leaders from every sector of healthcare will meet to assess the current state of health information technology (IT) progress...

Red Flags to Help Combat Medical Identity Theft

Posted on October 21, 2008
The FTC published the Red Flag rule on November 9, 2007.   However, over the last year there was considerable confusion and uncertainty about whether the rule, which is primarily geared toward financial institutions and other lenders, also applied (or should apply) to healthcare providers...

Legislation Introduced to Establish a NJ Fund for Health IT

Posted on October 16, 2008
Assemblyman Herb Conaway introduced legislation (A 3368) today that would establish an electronic Health Information Technology ("e-HIT") Fund to be used to implement the objectives of the Statewide health information technology plan.  The Bill proposes that beginning April 1, 2009, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, each health care payer will pay a "technology reinvestment fee" into the e-HIT fund in an amount equal to 0...

EHR Demo Applications Due November 26, 2008

Posted on October 10, 2008
Phase I of CMS's EHR Demonstration project began September 1, 2008.  Physicians selected by CMS to participate in this EHR demo project will be eligible to receive incentives totaling up to $58,000 per physician over five years or $290,000 per practice over five years...

National Emergencies and HIPAA

Posted on October 06, 2008
Today, OCR posted a new response to the FAQ "Is the HIPAA Privacy Rule suspended during a national or public health emergency?"  The federal government's answer? . . . NO!   The FAQ response states that the Secretary of HHS may, however, waive certain provisions of the Privacy Rule under the Project Bioshield Act of 2004 (PL 108-276) and section 1135(b)(7) of the Social Security Act...

Obama and McCain Support Health IT Adoption

Posted on September 30, 2008
As Election Day rapidly approaches, I thought that it would be interesting to note the presidential candidates' views on health information technology.  In short, both Barack Obama and John McCain appear to support and include health care IT adoption as a major part of their health care reform plans...

Help Me Understand HIPAA!

Posted on September 21, 2008
It's been years since HIPAA became a household term.  Yet, there continues to be a significant amount of confusion about when it applies, what types of uses and disclosures of PHI are  permitted, and if individuals can sue someone for a HIPAA violation...

Help Me Understand HIPAA!

Posted on September 16, 2008
It's been years since HIPAA became a household term.  Yet, there continues to be a significant amount of confusion about when it applies, what types of uses and disclosures of PHI are  permitted, and if individuals can sue someone for a HIPAA violation...

Congressman Pete Stark's un-"Health-e Technology Act"

Posted on September 16, 2008
Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Pete Stark introduced H.R. 6898 entitled the "Health-e Information Technology Act."  Among other things, the Bill proposes the following action, which may not all be that particularly "healthy" for HIT adoption: Make the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) a permanent position that would manage the development, routine updating and dissemination of an open source health information technology system; Impose a "nominal" fee for adoption of the open source system by providers;  Authorize ONC to develop a program for the voluntary certification and periodic recertification of health information systems (currently CCHIT already does this); Require a reexamination of "health care operations" to determine which activities should required patient authorization; and Increase civil penalties for violations of the HIPAA privacy rule...

CCHIT to Certify PHRs in 2009

Posted on August 24, 2008
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) plans to certify personal health records (PHR) beginning in mid-2009.  Certification of PHR products would aim to ensure that records meet standards for patient privacy and security, as well as interoperability between providers...

"Opps," BC/BS Did it Again

Posted on July 30, 2008
First in New Jersey . . . now in Georgia.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported yesterday that last week BC/BS of Georgia sent over 202,000 EOB letters to the wrong addresses.  Apparently the letters were mistakenly directed to the addresses of other policyholders, and included patients' names and insurance identification numbers, their doctors names, and in some cases Social Security numbers...

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