Patient Privacy

OCR Shares COVID-19 PHI, Data Sharing Guidance for First Responders

by Jessica Davis

The Office for Civil Rights released guidance for how protected health information on patients exposed or infected with COVID-19 can be shared with first responders, such as law enforcement,...

Coronavirus Relief Package Needs Privacy Focus, Groups Tell Congress

by Jessica Davis

Thirteen civil-society groups are urging Congress to keep patient privacy protections center stage in any drafted Coronavirus relief packages, and any waivers of these protections must exclusively...

OCR Clarifies HIPAA Liability on Telehealth Use During COVID-19

by Jessica Davis

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights released a list of frequently asked questions to common concerns raised about its recent move to lift certain HIPAA penalties...

Best Practice Cybersecurity Methods for Remote Care, Patient Portals

by Jessica Davis

A recent study from Kantar shows that privacy and security concerns are hindering patients’ willingness to use health technology, such as patient portals to improve their care. And while many in...

Sens. Flag Privacy, Security Concerns Over Google COVID-19 Screening Site

by Jessica Davis

A group of Democratic Senators are raising concerns about the potential Google COVID-19 screening website over possible privacy and cybersecurity risks, after the Trump Administration announced Google...

Senate GOP Bill Proposes Federal Privacy Standard Bill, Preempts States

by Jessica Davis

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, released his spin on federal privacy legislation on March 12 that would establish a national privacy standard and preempt state privacy laws, after bipartisan talks came to...

Senators Press Ascension on Data Sharing Agreement with Google

by Jessica Davis

Sens. Bill Cassidy, MD, R-Louisiana, Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, are pressing Ascension on its data sharing agreement it holds with Google, given the tech...

Sens. Reintroduce Privacy Law for Substance Use Disorder Treatment

by Jessica Davis

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, reintroduced the Protecting Jessica Grubbs Legacy Act, a privacy bill designed to modernize 42 CFR Part 2 regulations to...

Judge Finalizes Quest Diagnostics Settlement Over 2016 Data Breach

by Jessica Davis

The US District Court in New Jersey issued a final approval of a class-action lawsuit settlement between Quest Diagnostics and the patients impacted by a 2016 data breach. The testing giant will pay...

Walgreens Reports Data Breach from Personal Mobile Messaging App Error

by Jessica Davis

Walgreens announced on Friday that it inadvertently exposed the personal messages stored on its messaging app due to an internal error. On January 15, officials said they first discovered an error in...

UW Medicine Hit with Lawsuit for Breach Impacting 974K Patients

by Jessica Davis

The University of Washington Medicine is facing a class-action lawsuit following its disclosure of a patient data breach that impacted 974,00 patients. According to the lawsuit filed in the King...

Hackensack Meridian Faces Breach Lawsuit After Ransomware Attack

by Jessica Davis

Hackensack Meridian Health, one of the largest health systems in New Jersey, is facing a class-action lawsuit, following a ransomware attack that drove the provider offline for several days in...

OIG Finds Serious Misuse of Medicare Data Transactions by Pharmacies

by Jessica Davis

The Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Inspector General recently discovered widespread inappropriate access and use of Medicare beneficiary data by pharmacies and other healthcare...

Senate Bill Would Create Federal Data Protection Agency

by Jessica Davis

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-New York, recently unveiled her take on privacy legislation, which would establish a federal data protection agency (DPA) to give consumers more control over their...

eHI, CDT Partner on Consumer Privacy Framework for Health Data

by Jessica Davis

eHealth Initiative and the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) are partnering on the development of a consumer privacy framework for health data not currently protected by HIPAA. The Building a...

Privacy Leaders: Congress, Not ONC, Holds Onus for Health App Privacy

by Jessica Davis

Industry stakeholders are urging the Office of the National Coordinator to release its proposed interoperability and information blocking rules without delay, in response to a recent push from EHR...

AHIP: CMS Price Transparency Proposal Poses Patient Privacy Risk

by Jessica Davis

In November, the Trump Administration rolled out broad transparency rules designed to provide consumers with more insights into how much hospitals charge health insurers for both out-of- and in-network...

Lawsuits Filed Against Health Quest, Tidelands After Data Breach Reports

by Jessica Davis

Health Quest and Tidelands Health are both facing lawsuits after the providers reported potential data breaches. Health Quest recently added more patients to the tally of victims impacted by a 2018...

Judge Rules Against HHS Over HIPAA Right of Access Third-Party Fees

by Jessica Davis

Washington, DC US District Court Judge Amit Mehta issued a blow to the Department of Health and Human Services for its 2013 HIPAA Right of Access rule around third-party requests for patient records,...

Health Data, Medical Documents Exposed by LabCorp Website Error

by Jessica Davis

An error in an internal customer relationship management system website of LabCorp left the health data and medical documents of thousands of patients exposed online, according to...