A Florida primary care and pain management practice that calls itself Korunda Medical Institute has paid the federal government $85,000 to settle a violation of HIPAA’s right of access provisions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the settlement on December 12.

A Korunda patient filed a complaint with HHS’s Office for

Eric Fader contributed to Healthcare Risk Management’s HIPAA Regulatory Alert, which appeared in the publication’s December 2019 issue. The Alert outlines the best practices that will help avoid common HIPAA violations. Eric discusses the events that might trigger a regulatory action and the kinds of violations that may affect the severity of the penalties and fines.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on November 7 that it imposed a $1.6 million monetary penalty against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for violations of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. The Commission operates several health and public need facilities and also administers many

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a new version of its security risk assessment (SRA) tool that helps smaller healthcare providers conduct and document risk assessments, as required by the HIPAA Security Rule. The update incorporates new features to make the tool more user-friendly.

The SRA tool, available on HHS’s

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on November 5 that the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) agreed to pay $3 million to settle violations of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. URMC is one of the largest health systems in New York State, with more than

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on October 23 that Jackson Health System (JHS) in Miami has received a civil money penalty of $2,154,000 for violations of HIPAA’s Security and Breach Notification Rules. OCR Director Roger Severino said, “OCR’s investigation revealed a HIPAA compliance program that had

On October 10, Rivkin Radler’s Jeff Kaiser will be a panelist at the Practising Law Institute (PLI) program, “Life Sciences 2019: Navigating Legal Challenges in the Drug and Device Industries.” Jeff will speak on “Enforcement Trends Impacting the Drug and Device Industries,” including developments under the False Claims Act, federal Anti-Kickback Statute, off-label promotion, and

As it had done for previous hurricanes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a HIPAA Bulletin providing for a limited waiver of HIPAA sanctions and penalties for covered entities in Puerto Rico, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian.

Such waivers are primarily intended

Mayo Clinic announced a 10-year strategic partnership with Google that aims to “accelerate the pace of health care innovation through digital technologies.” Mayo Clinic intends to use advanced cloud computing, data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its delivery of care, including, for example, using AI-enabled digital diagnostics to advance virtual care.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on September 9 that Bayfront Health St. Petersburg (Bayfront), a 480-bed Florida hospital, has paid HHS’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) $85,000 to settle a potential violation of HIPAA’s right of access provisions. Bayfront’s Resolution Agreement with HHS also provided for the company to enter into a one-year