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On December 1, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a Bulletin on the obligations of HIPAA covered entities and business associates under the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules when using online tracking technologies. …
Continue Reading HHS Releases Bulletin on Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates

On July 11, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection issued a business alert on businesses’ handling of sensitive data, with a particular focus on location and health data.
Continue Reading FTC Issues Business Alert on Illegal Use and Sharing of Location, Health and other Sensitive Data

On June 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued two guidance documents to “help protect patients seeking reproductive health care, as well as their providers” following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. …
Continue Reading HHS Issues Post-Dobbs Guidance to Protect Patient Privacy

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights released guidance to help covered entities understand how they can use remote communication technologies for audio-only telehealth in compliance with the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. Specifically, the Guidance clarifies how audio-only telehealth can be conducted after OCR’s Notification of Enforcement Discretion for Telehealth, put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, is no longer in effect.
Continue Reading HHS Releases Guidance on Audio-Only Telehealth Practices

On May 26, 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a press release reminding health app providers that California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act applies to mobile apps that are designed to store medical information, which includes health apps such as fertility trackers. …
Continue Reading California Attorney General Reminds Health App Providers of Obligations to Protect Reproductive Health Information

Earlier this month, the New Jersey Acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck announced that its Division of Consumer Affairs had reached a $425,000 settlement with three New Jersey-based providers of cancer care over alleged failures to adequately safeguard patient data.
Continue Reading NJ Acting Attorney General Announces $425,000 Fine to Settle Breach Investigation

On October 12, 2021, New Jersey Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck and the Division of Consumer Affairs announced a settlement with Diamond Institute for Infertility and Menopause, LLC over a data breach that compromised the personal information of 14,663 patients, including 11,071 New Jersey residents. The Division of Consumer Affairs alleged that the fertility clinic violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and the federal HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules by removing protected health information safeguards.
Continue Reading New Jersey Acting Attorney General Announces Data Breach Settlement with Fertility Clinic

On May 25, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it had reached a settlement with a clinical laboratory for violations of the HIPAA Security Rule. As part of this settlement, the company agreed to pay OCR $25,000 and to implement a robust corrective action plan. …
Continue Reading HHS Reaches Settlement with Clinical Laboratory for Alleged Violations of HIPAA Security Rule

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently vacated a 4.3 million dollar civil monetary penalty imposed by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights in 2017 against the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, holding that the penalty was “arbitrary, capricious, and otherwise unlawful.”…
Continue Reading Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Vacates MD Anderson HIPAA Penalty