The Antitrust Headache: What ACOs, AT&T and Blue Cross have in Common So what exactly do a nation-wide health insurer and the second (potentially now first) largest U.S. wireless provider have in common? Upcoming battles over the antitrust implications of their actions and a...
CVS in the HIPAA Spotlight…Again. On March 7, CVS Caremark (CVS) hit the HIPAA spotlight again, and not in a good way. Back in 2009, CVS was the target of a joint U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Offices for Civil Rights (OCR) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)...
FTC & Attorney General Launch Inquiry into a Nevada ACO ModernHealthcare.com is reporting that the Nevada Attorney General’s office and the Federal Trade Commission have launched an inquiry into a patient-care collaboration between Reno-based Renown Health and a local cardiology...
For Lack of a Proper “Print” Function – The Difficulties in Responding to Subpoenas to Produce the EHR Prepared by Krystyna H. Nowik, Esq. As the use of electronic health records (EHRs) and participation in health information exchanges (HIEs) expands, so does their appearance in court. ...
NJ ACO Pilot Bill Approved by Senate Budget and Appropriations See prior Legal HIE post “NJ ACOs, will they fly?” NEWS RELEASE Reprinted from: http://www.njsendems.com/release.asp?rid=3846 For Release: ImmediateThursday, March 03, 2011 Contact: Jason Butkowski(609) 292-5215 TRENTON – A...
One, Two HIPAA Penalty Punch from HHS and OCR Just as gasps from the 4.3 million dollar penalty OCR assessed against Cignet Health of Maryland started to subside, OCR delivers a whopping 1 million dollar penalty to another hospital — this time to the The General Hospital Corporation and...
Kansas Aligns State Privacy Laws with HIPAA as HIE Standard Today, the State of Kansas’ Senate committee approved (by a vote of 39-0) Senate Bill 133 to align the state’s privacy laws with HIPAA. The Kansas Health Information Exchange, Inc. (the state’s RHIO) testified before the Senate...
4.3 Million Penalty Assessed Under HITECH for HIPAA violations One might say that it looks like HHS and OCR are making up for all those years people have said there has been a lack of enforcement of HIPAA — 4.3 million dollars worth of “making up for lost time” in just one shot…. HHS...
ONC Open Casting Calls Prepared by Krystyna Nowik, Esq. Last week, ONC opened a thirty-day window for organizations to apply to become the sole accrediting entity to oversee certifying organizations under the Permanent Certification Program for Health Information Technology...
Accounting of Disclosures Proposed Rule up for Review: The Beginning of a Collective Sigh of Relief or Covered Entities’ Newest Nightmare? Prepared by Krystyna H. Nowik, Esq. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has finally received the long-awaited proposed rule addressing...
U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Whether Prescription Data Mining is Protected under First Amendment In November 2010, legalhie.com mentioned that the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had issued its ruling that Vermont’s drug-marketing restrictions were unconstitutional. Vermont’s...
ONC Announces Launch of “Direct Project” Pilots In a Press Release posted today, February 2nd, ONC announced that providers and public health agencies in Minnesota and Rhode Island began this month exchanging health information using specifications developed by the Direct Project, which...
HITECH Takes a Political HIT A Bill introduced in the House (H.R.408) Spending Reduction Act of 2011, aims to reduce spending by trillions of dollars, including by eliminating funding for Meaningful Use. Although it is too early to tell if the Bill would get very far, it could make...
Doctors and Patients Mostly Agree on IT Government Health IT reported yesterday that according to a national survey released January 31st by the Markle Foundation, patient and physicians share many similar views regarding increasing beneficial use of health information technology to...
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Declared Unconstitutional In a brief 78 page Opinion, Federal District Court Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Florida struck down portions of the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on...