Patient Privacy

FTC to Enforce Against Illegal Location, Health Data Privacy Practices

by Jill McKeon

In a blog post, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expressed its intentions to enforce against improper and illegal consumer location and health data privacy practices. Written by Kristen Cohen,...

Biden’s Reproductive Health Executive Order Outlines Patient Privacy Protections

by Jill McKeon

President Biden released an “Executive Order on Protecting Access to Reproductive Healthcare Services,” which addressed patient privacy protections and stressed the importance of abortion...

Abortion Restrictions Clash With HIPAA, Patient Privacy Protections

by Jill McKeon

HIPAA clashes with patient privacy and health data protections relating to newly imposed abortion restrictions in several major ways, experts suggested in a recent JAMA Health Forum article. The...

Senators Ask HHS to Update HIPAA Privacy Rule, Defend Reproductive Rights

by Jill McKeon

US Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) asked HHS to consider updating the HIPAA Privacy Rule to better defend reproductive rights in a recent letter. The Supreme...

Google Tackles Data Privacy, Plans to Delete Location History at Abortion Clinics

by Jill McKeon

Google announced plans to heighten its data privacy practices and said it would delete location history when users visit abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters, fertility centers, weight loss...

OCR Issues Patient Privacy, HIPAA Privacy Rule Guidance After Roe v. Wade Ruling

by Jill McKeon

The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance on patient privacy and rights under the HIPAA Privacy Rule that can help patients maintain security and privacy in light of the recent Roe v. Wade...

Senators Question Talkspace, BetterHelp On Patient Data Privacy Practices

by Jill McKeon

In letters to Talkspace and BetterHelp, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) urged the leading mental health apps to provide clarification on their patient data...

Senators Call on FTC to Investigate Apple, Google’s “Deceptive” Data Privacy Practices

by Jill McKeon

Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) sent a letter asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to launch an investigation into Apple and...

Meta Sued For Violating Patient Privacy, Scraping Health Data From Hospitals

by Jill McKeon

In the wake of detailed allegations of patient privacy violations covered in a report co-published by The Markup and STAT, Meta (the parent company of Facebook) is facing a lawsuit over the use of its...

Senators Aim to Ban Data Brokers From Selling Health Data With New Bill

by Jill McKeon

US Senators introduced the Health and Location Data Protection Act, which would ban data brokers from selling location and health data in anticipation of the potential repeal of Roe v. Wade. Elizabeth...

Potential Roe v. Wade Repeal Sparks Data Security, Patient Privacy Concerns

by Jill McKeon

The potential repeal of Roe v. Wade has sparked data security and patient privacy concerns, prompting 40 congressional Democrats to pen a letter to Google asking them to stop collecting and retaining...

What is the HIPAA Privacy Rule?

by Jill McKeon

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) established national standards for the security and privacy of protected health information (PHI). HHS issued the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security Rule to...

State-by-State Legal Inconsistencies Challenge Adolescent Patient Privacy

by Jill McKeon

State and federal legal inconsistencies, the proliferation of EHRs, and information blocking rules under the 21st Century Cures Act present challenges to preserving adolescent patient privacy, an...

New Framework Helps Healthcare Assess Privacy, Security of Digital Health Apps

by Jill McKeon

The American College of Physicians (ACP), the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), and other industry leaders released a new framework to help providers and patients assess the...

Employee Email Warnings Reduce EHR Snooping, Unauthorized PHI Access

by Jill McKeon

Only 2 percent of healthcare employees who received an email warning after committing unauthorized protected health information (PHI) access carried out the same offense again, a research letter...

The Quest to Improve Security, Privacy of Third-Party Health Apps

by Jill McKeon

Third-party health applications fall outside HIPAA's purview, positioning them in a regulatory gray area where transparency, security, and privacy obligations are left open to interpretation. Consumers may not realize that the way...

Secondary Health Data Use Fails to Account for Clinical Ethics

by Jill McKeon

Electronic health data functions primarily to enable the delivery of healthcare services, a viewpoint article published in JAMA Network argued. Sharing that data for research and public health are...

FDA Provides Guidance on Remote Data Collection for Clinical Investigations

by Jill McKeon

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released draft guidance offering recommendations for stakeholders surrounding the use of digital health technologies (DHTs) for remote data collection in clinical...

Security, Privacy Risks of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

by Jill McKeon

Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has the potential to revolutionize clinical research and care delivery. AI can be used to sift through massive databases and may have applications in mental healthcare and cancer...

Growing Number of States Enact New Genetic Data Privacy Laws

by Jill McKeon

A growing number of states are enacting new genetic data privacy laws to protect patients from misuse of data and to hold private companies accountable for proper data governance practices. HIPAA...