HIPAA

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On Thursday, March 26, 2020, the Senate passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economy Security Act (the “CARES Act”), which provides economic relief for individuals, businesses and industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, some provisions specifically relate to nascent privacy and data security concerns to be addressed both during and after the pandemic:

  • Financial Assistance for Training: Qualifying small businesses and minority owned businesses may apply for financial assistance in the form of grants to cover training and advising for employees on risks of and mitigation of cybersecurity threats in remote customer service or telework practices. The economic landscape following the COVID-19 pandemic will highlight businesses’ increased reliance upon technology, and the nascent need for increased attention to data security education. The financial assistance available to small and minority-owned businesses provides a great opportunity for companies to get ahead of the curve with respect to myriad information security threats.
  • Credit Reporting: The Fair Credit Reporting Act is revised so that furnishers of consumer and payment information, who make an accommodation with respect to one or more payments on a consumer’s account or credit obligation, must report the account or obligation as “current,” unless it was delinquent prior to the accommodation.
  • Public Health Service Act Amended to Conform with HIPAA: The Public Health Service Act is amended to include breach notification and consent requirements consistent with HIPAA. In addition, within one year after the date of enactment, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall update 45 C.F.R 164.520 so that covered entities and entities creating or maintaining records relating to substance abuse education, training, treatment, and research shall provide easily understandable notices of privacy practices. As a result, some entities not currently regulated by HIPAA will need to adapt to some of the HIPAA requirements related to breach notification and notice of privacy practices.
  • Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency: $9 million is allocated for supply chain and information analysis, as well as impacted critical infrastructure coordination.
  • Funding for Public Health Surveillance: $500 million is allocated for public health data surveillance and analytics infrastructure modernization.

Continue Reading COVID-19 Bulletin: CARES Act Provides Attention to Privacy & Data Security Precautions

In the past week, businesses in every industry faced the growing concerns that the coronavirus pandemic has brought to our communities. As the situation around the globe continues to develop and multi-faceted issues arise, companies should be considering their employees’ and customers’ privacy and be prepared to adequately and appropriately respond to privacy concerns, requests for information, and understand the basic expectations of how and when personal information can be used without consent.

While the current environment demands flexibility and responsiveness, and not all-personal information or your industry may be subject to such regulations, the following information provides some guidelines on how the law expects businesses to balance privacy and public health concerns. We conclude with some best practices that apply to the use of personal information in all conditions.Continue Reading COVID-19 Bulletin: Balancing Privacy and Public Health Needs

Last November, Taft’s Scot Ganow and Bill Wagner wrote on Ohio first-of-its kind state legislation which would provide companies a safe harbor from some litigation resulting from a data breach. This month, Governor John Kasich signed the Ohio Senate Bill 220, also known as the Ohio Data Protection Act, into law. The law goes into effect in November, and is aimed at providing entities conducting business in Ohio with special protection from litigation in the event of a security incident or breach under certain circumstances. Specifically, the law creates a safe harbor affirmative defense when an entity adopts cybersecurity measures designed to: (1) protect the security and confidentiality of personal information; (2) protect against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of the personal information; and (3) protect against unauthorized access to and acquisition of information that is likely to result in a material risk of identity theft or other fraud.
Continue Reading Proactive Approach to Cybersecurity Pays off in Ohio with New Data Protection Act

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement agreement for $5.5 million dollars with Florida’s Memorial Healthcare Systems (MHS) stemming from allegations it failed to protect patient data. The privacy violation arose out of the unauthorized access of 115,143 patients by MHS employees. The information that was compromised consisted of names, dates of birth and social security numbers. A majority of these impermissible actions occurred when a former employee’s login credentials were used from 2011-2012 which affected 80,000 individuals.
Continue Reading HIPAA’S Privacy Rule: Having a Policy – But Not Enforcing It – Costs Provider $5.5 Million

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) first HIPAA settlement of 2017 is based on a failure to report a breach of health information in a timely manner. The settlement was reached with Presence Health, a large health care network that operates in approximately 150 locations in Illinois. Presence Health has agreed to settle the potential violations by paying a fine of $475,000 and implementing a corrective action plan to deal with this problem in the future.

The settlement stems from…
Continue Reading OCR Penalizes Slow Data Breach Response

On Monday, March 21, 2016, the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) began the long-awaited Phase II of OCR’s random audit program to determine compliance with the patient privacy provisions included in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPPA”). As we discussed earlier here, these audits will extend beyond simply covered entities and will also include business associates.

Covered entities and business associates will receive an email from OCR entitled “Audit Entity Contact Verification.”  This…
Continue Reading HIPAA Phase II Audits Begin