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Linking his announcement to National Privacy Day, January 28, 2013, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler informed the public that his office has formed an Internet Privacy Unit. (See similar step taken by Connecticut AG)

The stated purpose of the Unit is to protect the privacy of online users. The Unit will be charged…

As we continue to examine the final HIPAA privacy and security regulations, as amended by the HITECH Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, we pulled together a summary of some of the key points. We fully expect additional sub-regulatory guidance to be provided by OCR, such as frequently asked questions and sample business …

Under the HITECH Act, business associates are subject to the HIPAA privacy and security rules (the "HIPAA Rules") virtually to the same extent as covered entities. In addition to implementing this change for business associates ("BAs"), and providing additional guidance concerning what entities are business associates, the final HIPAA regulations issued last week also treat certain subcontractors of BAs as BAs directly subject to …

HIPAA data breach affecting 441 patients leads to investigation resulting in $50K in penalties due to alleged lapses in security compliance.
Continue Reading Small HIPAA Breach (Affecting Fewer Than 500) Leads to Substantial Penalties

On Monday, the Office for Civil Rights released guidance regarding methods for de-identification of protected health information (PHI) in accordance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule and as required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

HIPAA covered entities and business associates recognize the increasing risks related to handling "protected health information." One way to reduce these…