How can health care employers use non-competes and other restrictive covenants to protect trade secrets? Attorneys Erik Weibust and Katherine Rigby explore the options available to employers, in an article for Law360.
Continue Reading Protecting Health Care Trade Secrets with Non-Competes and Other Covenants
On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed into law the 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act containing the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (the “Cyber Incident Reporting Act”). While President Biden’s remarks highlighted the $13.6 billion in funding “to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the impact on surrounding countries,” the 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act contained numerous other laws, including the Cyber Incident Reporting Act, which should not be overlooked. The Cyber Incident Reporting Act puts in motion important new cybersecurity reporting requirements that will likely apply to businesses in almost every major sector of the economy, including health care, financial services, energy, transportation and commercial facilities. Critical infrastructure entities should monitor the upcoming rule-making by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”), as the final regulations will clarify the scope and application of the new law.
Continue Reading President Biden Signs into Law the Cyber Incident Reporting Act, Imposing Reporting Requirements for Cyber Incidents and Ransomware Payments
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently issued guidance clarifying protections applicable to consumers’ sensitive personal data increasingly collected by so-called “health apps.” The FTC press release indicated it has approved a policy statement by a vote of 3-2 offering guidance that organizations using “health applications and connected devices” to “collect or use” consumers’ personal health
Our colleagues Alaap Shah and Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker Green have written an Expert Analysis on Law360 that will be of interest to our readers: “Health Cos. Must Prepare for Growing Ransomware Threat.”
The following is an excerpt (see below to download the full version in PDF format):
Ransomware attacks have become
On January 5, 2020, HR 7898, became law amending the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), 42 U.S.C. 17931, to require that “recognized cybersecurity practices” be considered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in determining any Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) fines, audit
On January 28, 2020, the Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) addressed a federal court’s January 23rd invalidation of certain provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) rule relating to the third-party requests for patient records. In Ciox Health, LLC v. Azar,[1] the court invalidated the 2013 Omnibus Rule’s mandate that all protected health information (“PHI”) maintained in any format (not just that in the electronic health record) by a covered entity be delivered to third parties at the request of an individual, as well as the 2016 limitation on fees that can be charged to third parties for copies of protected health information (“PHI”).
As enacted, HIPAA’s Privacy Rule limits what covered entities (or business associates acting on behalf of covered entities)[2] may charge an “individual” requesting a copy of their medical record to a “reasonable, cost-based fee”[3] (the “Patient Rate”). The Privacy Rule did not, however, place limitations on the fees that can be charged to other requestors of this information, such as other covered entities that need copies of the records for treatment purposes or for disclosures to attorneys or other third parties. In order for some of these third parties to obtain the records, the patient would have to provide the covered entity with a valid HIPAA authorization.
Continue Reading HHS Addresses Federal Court Invalidation of Certain Provisions of the HIPAA Rule Relating to the Third-Party Requests for Patient Records
The market for direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) genetic testing has increased dramatically over recent years as more people are using at-home DNA tests. The global market for this industry is projected to hit $2.5 billion by 2024. Many consumers subscribe to DTC genetic testing because they can provide insights into genetic backgrounds and ancestry. However, as
On Friday April 26, 2019, the US Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued a notification regarding HHS’ use of Civil Monetary Penalties (“CMP”) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/04/30/2019-08530/enforcement-discretion-regarding-hipaa-civil-money-penalties. The notice provides: “As a
One well-recognized way to protect patient privacy is to de-identify health data. However, trends around increases in publicly-available personal data, data linking and aggregation, big data analytics, and computing power are challenging traditional de-identification models. While traditional de-identification techniques may mitigate privacy risk, the possibility remains that such data may be coupled with other information
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Our colleagues Mark E. Lutes, Robert J. Hudock, and Patricia M. Wagner have issued an alert on modifications to the HIPAA privacy, security, and enforcement rules. Following is an excerpt:
On January 17, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services released the highly anticipated, 563 page, Health Insurance Portability and