Privacy News & Issues
On April 22, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights announced a final rule, entitled the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy. The rule strengthens privacy protections for medical records and health information for individuals who are seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating lawful reproductive health care. Health…
Not all monetary penalties are for breaches affecting large numbers of patients. In this case, HHS imposed a penalty on an entity that had breaches in both 2017 and 2020. PogoWasRight notes that the 2017 incident affected 3,370 patients, and the 2020 incident affected 2,553 patients — as reported to HHS at the time. Today,…
WJAC reports that Mount Nittany Health is agreeing to pay $1.8 million in a proposed settlement in a lawsuit over the use of tracking software. As part of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed that Mount Nittany Health never notified patients of the data sharing, even after other entities began notifying patients of the tracking pixels…
A second doctor from Long Island has now been charged in federal court in Boston in connection with a scheme that involved ordering medically unnecessary brain scans. Dr. Vishnudat Seodat, 75, of Mattituck, N.Y. was charged and has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. A plea hearing…