On May 7, 2014, HHS announced that New York-Presbyterian Hospital (“NYP”) and Columbia University (“CU”) agreed to collectively pay $4.8 million in the largest HIPAA settlement to date. The organizations settled charges that they potentially violated … [Continue reading]
Providing Telemedicine Services? Pay Attention To State Licensing Requirements
May 7, 2014 By
Advancements in telemedicine offer exciting treatment possibilities for rural communities. Through audio-visual technology, patients in small communities now have the opportunity to access the expertise of specialists at large medical facilities in … [Continue reading]
Stolen Laptops Lead to $2 Million in HIPAA Settlements
April 28, 2014 By
Last week HHS announced close to $2 Million dollars in HIPAA settlements with Concentra and QCA Health Plan due to the theft of unencrypted laptops. However, the message from HHS is not just the importance of data encryption, rather its performance … [Continue reading]
HHS Security Risk Assessment Tool Webinar
April 25, 2014 By
The Office of the National Coordinator announced today that it will host a webinar to discuss its Security Risk Assessment Tool. This webinar is designed to review the current state of the tool, discuss some of the known issues and ONC’s plan to … [Continue reading]
FDA Releases Report on Health IT Oversight
April 7, 2014 By
On April 3, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) and the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), released a congressionally mandated … [Continue reading]
Want to Make HIPAA More Interesting? Try Playing Web Games
April 2, 2014 By
Many healthcare providers understand the importance of HIPAA compliance, but are not interested in reading detailed regulations and agency commentary to understand the rules. If this describes any of your staff members, the Office of National … [Continue reading]
ICD-10, Two-Midnight Rule, RAC Audits, SGR Delayed
March 31, 2014 By
The Senate passed this evening the "Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014", which creates a 12 month delay for pending Medicare cuts pursuant to Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula. This bill avoids the 24% Medicare cuts … [Continue reading]
HHS Releases Security Risk Assessment Tool
March 28, 2014 By
Need help performing your HIPAA/Meaningful Use Security Risk Assessment? Good news, HHS has released a tool to help! In partnership with the Office of the National Coordinator, HHS created a tool, user guide, software, tutorial, videos and even an … [Continue reading]
$4 Million Stanford Settlement – Business Associate Pays Majority
March 27, 2014 By
Remember the $20 Million class action law suit against Stanford due to the posting of an Excel file online by a Business Associate? The law suit, driven by California state privacy laws recently settled for $4 Million, with the Business Associate … [Continue reading]
PROTECT Act Seeks to Exclude Health IT Software from FDA Oversight
March 19, 2014 By
Last month, Senators Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Angus King (I-Maine) introduced proposed legislation, the PROTECT Act (Preventing Regulatory Overreach To Enhance Care Technology) of 2014 (full text available here), which seeks to remove the Food and … [Continue reading]
