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

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

On December 14, 2018 the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) formally issued a Request For Information (“RFI”) seeking public input on “ways to modify the HIPAA Rules to remove regulatory obstacles and decrease regulatory burdens in order to facilitate efficient care coordination and/or case management and to promote the

On May 20, 2014, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submitted the agency’s Annual Report to Congress on Breaches of Unsecured Protected Health Information for Calendar Years 2011 and 2012 (“Breach Report”). This report provides valuable insight for healthcare entities regarding their data security and enforcement priorities.

Section 13402(i) of

By Patricia WagnerAli Lakhani and Jonathan Hoerner

On May 20, 2014, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submitted the agency’s Annual Report to Congress on Breaches of Unsecured Protected Health Information for Calendar Years 2011 and 2012 (“Breach Report”). This report provides valuable insight for healthcare entities

For those healthcare employers that have been resting on your laurels and viewing through rose-colored glasses your entity’s HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) and HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) compliance efforts, the time has come to thoroughly clean your glasses and prepare for increased Office of Civil

Epstein Becker Green has been designated by the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) as a Common Security Framework (CSF) Assessor. This will allow the firm to provide health care organizations with privacy and security risk assessments to protect the entities from breaches of protected health information (PHI). The health care industry has accepted the HITRUST

by Pamela D. Tyner

Social media have become de rigueur globally.  Today, millions maintain connections with their friends, relatives and business acquaintances via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and YouTube.  Recent studies indicate that social media popularity even predicts polling popularity and the stock market.  Translated to the healthcare arena, healthcare facilities and organizations are