Nary a week goes by without news of a data breach by a healthcare provider…while there are certainly a good number of breaches resulting from a breach of cybersecurity defenses or from the wrongful exploitation of system security weaknesses, there is still a risk to healthcare providers resulting from the internal operations of the healthcare
Enhanced HHS HIPAA Breach Reporting Tool May Aid Health Care Industry Data Security Efforts
Secretary Tom Price of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced his agency needs “to focus more on the most recent breaches and clarify when entities have taken action to resolve the issues that might have led to their breaches.” Accordingly, HHS’ Office of Civil Rights has launched a revised web tool
Federation of State Medical Boards Issues Guidelines for Use of Social Media in Medical Practice
The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) recently adopted model policy guidelines for the appropriate use of social media and social networking in a medical practice. The model policy guidelines can be viewed here. In its findings, the FSMB reports that 67 percent of 4,000 physicians surveyed use social media for professional purposes and that research
Alleged HIPAA Violation Supports State Common Law Negligence Claim
A Missouri federal district court has ruled, in I.S. v. Washington University, that a HIPAA-covered entity’s disclosure of protected information can form the basis for a state-law negligence claim. The Court reached this holding despite the well-accepted principle there is no private cause of action under HIPAA.
The plaintiff, I.S., was undergoing medical treatment
Red Flag Program Clarification Act Signed Into Law
As we reported here, the Senate passed legislation to clarify the application of the "red flag" rules to "creditors." The law, the Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010, made its way through the House and, on December 18, 2010, was signed into law by President Barack Obama.
The Act makes clear that the red flag rules apply