During the Fall 2024, the HHS OCR concluded 3 investigations resulting in settlement payments relating to ransomware incidents. In all three instances, OCR found that the entities that encountered the cybersecurity incidents had not conducted a compliant risk analysis and did not sufficiently monitor their health information systems’ activity. there has been a 264% uptick in large ransomware breaches since 2018.
A federal district judge has granted preliminary injunctive relief to Real Time Medical Systems, Inc. (“Real Time”) barring the defendant, PointClickCare (“PCC”), from deploying unsolvable CAPTCHAs that interfered with Real Time’s ability to access the data of its skilled nursing facility customers that utilized PCC. As Judge Xinis wrote in the opinion, “No evidence supports that PCC had any legitimate good faith use for wholly inscrutable CAPTCHAs which, by definition, blocked Real Time from getting the very records it needs to exist….But even more damning is the timing of such deployments, which support that PCC used those CAPTCHAs as a device to hamstring or eliminate Real Time as a competitor.” Keep reading for additional details regarding Real Time’s complaints against PointClickCare.
Update: On August 19, 2024, PointClickCare filed a Motion to Expedite Appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
The American Hospital Association, joined by a few others, has sued the federal government to enjoin them from enforcing their published Guidance on “Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates.”
The Proposed Rule for enforcement is out, and the potential financial “hit” that health care providers may face if the OIG finds them to have violated the Information Blocking Rule (IBR) could be substantial, but don’t get spooked. The reach of the proposed enforcement has limitations. Read more to find out why.
OCR reaches a new $1.3 million dollar settlement with a health plan for HIPAA violations. OCR says, “HIPAA-regulated entities need to be proactive in ensuring their compliance with the HIPAA Rules, and not wait for OCR to reveal long-standing HIPAA deficiencies.” Employers that offer Employee Benefits must evaluate if they are responsible for a health plan with HIPAA compliance obligations.
OIG’s authority to begin enforcement of the Information Blocking Rule begins September 1, 2023. Certain Actors subject to the Information Blocking Rule may be subject up to a $1 million penalty per violation! Actors need to be proactive in ensuring their compliance with the Information Blocking Rule and not wait for the OIG to discover them.
Attorneys at Oscislawski LLC together with the New Jersey Hospital Association present this highly informational Webinar on compliance steps hospitals can take to attempt to manage the risks associated with use of technologies that include online tracking tools.
After OCR created a Morton’s Fork for hospitals and health systems by publishing its HIPAA Guidance on the Use of Online Tracking Technologies, the American Hospital Association initially stayed out of the fray. Not any more. In its letter dated May 22, 2023, AHA makes its case to HHS as to why OCR’s Online Tracking Guidance should be suspended or amended.
The FTC releases its second enforcement action under the Health Breach Notification Rule in just over 3 months. This time, the FTC found that a fertility app called Premom shared sensitive fertility information with third parties for unauthorized purposes. While Premom told its users that it would not share their health information with third parties without users’ consent, it used third-party automated tracking tools known as software development kits (SDKs) which shared highly sensitive health information (e.g., data about an individual user’s sexual & reproductive health, pregnancy status etc.) for advertising and marketing purposes.
The FTC issued a proposed order requiring BetterHelp to pay $7.8 million to consumers to settle charges that it shared consumers’ health data with Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Criteo after promising to keep such data private and claiming it is “certified” as “HIPAA compliant.” The real juice of this case is in the FTC compliant — and HIPAA-covered providers, facilities & organizations can learn a lot about what to watch out for with health data Apps as we continue to march towards the FHIR.
The forecast for Arizona is thunderstorms, at least for at least one health care system. Last week, OCR announced a $1.25 settlement for HIPAA Security Rule violations brought to light by a cybersecurity hacking incident that took place over five years ago.
The chickens have come home to roost for GoodRx. The FTC has assessed a $1.5 Million penalty against the telehealth and prescription drug discount provider for failing to report unauthorized disclosures as required by the Health Breach Notification Rule.
On December 1, 2022, OCR released a “guidance” Bulletin re: “Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates.” From it, we learned (among other things) that OCR believes that an individual’s IP addresses and geo location, collected by a regulated entity’s website, is protected by HIPAA. Now, we have come to learn that HIPAA compliance investigations by OCR are already underway concerning this topic. Are you ready?
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the $4.3M penalty imposed on M.D. Anderson as arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law.
Yesterday, all at once, OCR announced that it has entered into five new Resolution Agreements — each of them stemming from one or more violations of HIPAA’s right of access afforded to individuals. There are several interesting observations about these new cases that are worth taking note of.