Suzanne Smalley reports: A Texas federal judge ruled Thursday that the Biden administration’s efforts to rein in the use of online trackers by hospitals and other health providers are illegal. The judge backed arguments from hospital trade groups and local healthcare systems who said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) went beyond…
Tag: HIPAA
HIPAA’s role in liability cases tested in Mich.
Amy Lynn Sorrel reports: Michigan’s Supreme Court is set to decide whether the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act preempts a state law allowing defendants in medical liability lawsuits to informally interview plaintiffs’ other treating physicians — a move that doctors say could put them at a disadvantage in defending such cases. At issue is…
The FISMA challenge
Carolyn Duffy Marsan has an informative piece on Government Health IT about the different requirements of different pieces of federal legislation and how they impact sharing federally held health data with the private sector. She writes, in part: FISMA has 171 information security controls that are mandated for federal agencies. In contrast, the U.S. healthcare…
Updated (2): Whistleblower lawsuit against Kaiser
At a time when concerns about the privacy and security of electronic health records are a hot topic and the issue of private vs. public health insurance is making the front pages, a lawsuit filed by a former Kaiser employee alleges that Kaiser knowingly and repeatedly violated HIPAA, exposed millions of members to identity theft,…