Category: Health Care

$4 Million Judgment Awarded to Office for Civil Rights for HIPAA Violation

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A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has ruled that the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) in its failure to encrypt its electronic devices and ordered MD Anderson to pay $4,348,000 in civil monetary penalties  to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). This is the second summary judgment ordered in favor of the OCR in its history, and the fourth largest amount recovered by OCR for HIPAA violations.

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Massive Data Breach Exposes 500,000 Patients’ Medical Records

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LifeBridge Health in Maryland is the most recent health system to have its patient records impermissibly accessed through a malware cyberattack. Indication of an attack was first detected in March 2018, upon which the hospital hired a national forensic firm to investigate the attack and determined that an unauthorized person had accessed LifeBridge’s server in September 2016.

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CMS Proposed Rule, Rebranding of Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records Incentives Program Shifts Focus to Interoperability and Patient Access

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released its Proposed Rule that, in major part, rebrands the previously known Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentives Program into the Promoting Interoperability Program. The rebrand shifts the focus of the program to ensure that providers facilitate patient access to their own health data, and  limit the burden on health care providers when it comes to monitoring clinical care using health technology.

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Continued Special Privacy Treatment for Substance Use Disorder Information

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The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee recently passed the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 (OCRA) – a bipartisan package of more than 40 proposals designed to help families and entire communities affected by the nation-wide opioid crisis.

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US FDA Approaches to Artificial Intelligence

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be employed in a health care setting for a variety of tasks, from managing electronic health records at a hospital, to market research at a benefits management organization, to optimizing manufacturing operations at a pharmaceutical company. The level of regulatory scrutiny of such systems depends on their intended use and associated risks.

In the U.S., for medical devices using AI, one of the key regulatory bodies is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), especially its Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). CDRH has long followed a risk-based approach in its regulatory policies, and has officially recognized ISO Standard 14971 “Application of Risk Management to Medical Devices.” That standard is over 10 years old now, and therefore is currently undergoing revisions – some of which are meant to address challenges posed by AI and other digital tools that are flooding the medical-devices arena.

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New York Attorney General Penalizes Health Plan for Widespread Disclosure of Social Security Numbers

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New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced a $575,000 settlement with EmblemHealth and its subsidiary, Group Health Incorporated, (together, “EmblemHealth”) after EmblemHealth admitted a mailing error that resulted in the disclosure of 81,122 social security numbers.  EmblemHealth is one of the largest health plans in the United States.

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