The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released joint guidance on the application of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 Privacy Rule to student records.
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Department of Health and Human Services
HHS Imposes 1.6 Million Dollar Civil Penalty on Texas State Agency for Health Data Breach
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On November 7, 2019, the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a $1.6 million civil penalty imposed against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for violations of HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules.…
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Organizational Accountability in U.S. Law and Its Relevance to a Federal Data Privacy Law: A CIPL Study
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The Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP recently published a white paper on Organizational Accountability’s Existence in U.S. Regulatory Compliance and its Relevance for a Federal Data Privacy Law.…
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OCR Settles with Medical Imaging Services Company
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On May 6, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights announced that it had entered into a resolution agreement and $3 million settlement with Touchstone Medical Imaging. The settlement is the first OCR HIPAA enforcement action in 2019, following an all-time record year of HIPAA enforcement in 2018.…
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Federal Government Reduces Maximum Annual Penalties for Most Healthcare Privacy Violations
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On April 26, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reduced the available penalties for three out of the four tiers of privacy and security violations set forth in the HITECH Act. This blog entry provides an overview of the reductions.…
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HHS Publishes Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently published “Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients,” which was developed by the Healthcare & Public Health Sector Coordinating Councils Public Private Partnership, a group comprised of over 150 cybersecurity and healthcare experts from government and private industry.…
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OCR Enters into Record Settlement with Anthem
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Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights entered into a resolution agreement and record settlement of $16 million with Anthem, Inc. following Anthem’s 2015 data breach, the largest breach of protected health information in history that affected approximately 79 million individuals.…
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OCR Issues Guidance on Disclosures to Family, Friends and Others
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Posted in Health Privacy, Information Security
In its most recent cybersecurity newsletter, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights provided guidance regarding identifying vulnerabilities and mitigating the associated risks on software used to process electronic protected health information.…
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HHS Publishes Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking on Accounting of Disclosures and Civil Monetary Penalties
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Posted in Health Privacy
The Department of Health and Human Services recently published two advance notices of proposed rulemaking that address accounting of disclosures and the potential distribution of civil monetary penalties to affected individuals. …
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Unsecured PHI Leads to OCR Settlement with Closed Business
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On February 13, 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights announced that it had entered into a resolution agreement with the receiver appointed to liquidate the assets of Filefax, Inc. in order to settle potential violations of HIPAA. …
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