$500,000 Settlement for Failure to Comply with Basic HIPAA Compliance Requirements

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Advanced Care Hospitalists PL (ACH) and the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OCR) entered into a $500,000 no-fault settlement and two year corrective action plan (CAP) to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

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Physician Provided PHI to Media When “No Comment” Would Have Sufficed

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $125,000 no-fault settlement and two-year corrective action plan with Allergy Associates of Hartford, P.C. (Allergy Associates) stemming from an incident involving a physician who impermissibly released protected health information (PHI) to the media.

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Three Separate OCR Settlements Resulting from Hospital Failures to Obtain Patient Authorization for Use of Protected Health Information Before Filming Television Docuseries

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The Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced three separate settlements with Boston Medical Center (BMC), Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), respectively, over potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule totaling $999,000. According to the settlements, the potential violations were the result of the alleged disclosure of patient protected health information (PHI) to ABC News employees during the production and filming of the docuseries called  “Save My Life: Boston Trauma,” at each hospital.

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Continued Special Privacy Treatment for Substance Use Disorder Information

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The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee recently passed the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 (OCRA) – a bipartisan package of more than 40 proposals designed to help families and entire communities affected by the nation-wide opioid crisis.

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New York Attorney General Penalizes Health Plan for Widespread Disclosure of Social Security Numbers

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New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced a $575,000 settlement with EmblemHealth and its subsidiary, Group Health Incorporated, (together, “EmblemHealth”) after EmblemHealth admitted a mailing error that resulted in the disclosure of 81,122 social security numbers.  EmblemHealth is one of the largest health plans in the United States.

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New Initiative Examines Ethics of Research Using ‘Pervasive’ Data

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Data – big or small – has tremendous potential for use (and misuse).  For example, using mobile apps to keep track of one’s own physical activity or caloric intake may empower individuals to improve their health.  Should other parties (e.g., that app’s developer, physician, employer, insurance company, online friends) be able to access the same information, and if so, under what conditions? As another example, expressing one’s own feelings and preferences on a social media platform may strengthen bonds within a professional community or a family group, expedite academic collaborations, and/or improve an individual’s sense of belonging.  However, may those same messages – freely expressed in a public domain – be re-purposed for a study of mental health trends or for marketing strategies; and if so – when/how/by whom, or why/why-not?  Questions like these touch on a host of ethical and legal issues that only recently began to be explored in depth, even as new norms of individual behavior, human interactions, and treatment of data are evolving.     

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