OCR Settles Ransomware Cybersecurity Investigation for $500,000
On October 31, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $500,000 settlement with Plastic Surgery Associates of South [...]
OCR Imposes $240,000 Ransomware Civil Monetary Penalty Against Providence Medical Institute
In October of 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) imposed a $240,000 civil monetary penalty (CMP) against Providence Medical Institute [...]
Health Information Technology Provider Particle Health Files EPIC Lawsuit
In late September, Particle Health, a patient data aggregation and delivery platform that provides both data and insights to healthcare companies, filed a lawsuit against Epic Systems, [...]
FTC Lawsuit Against Pharmacy Benefit Managers Alleges Unfair Competition
In September 2024, the FTC sued three pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx, for artificially inflating the cost of insulin drugs. The FTC alleges [...]
Change Healthcare Class Action Lawsuit to Proceed in Federal Court
In February of 2024, Change Healthcare (Change), a healthcare payment processing company, sustained a data breach. This data breach was no ordinary data breach (to the extent [...]
The OCR HIPAA Audit Program and the HIPAA Security Rule
The HITECH Act requires the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to conduct periodic audits of HIPAA covered entity and business [...]
Texas Lawsuit Seeks Invalidation of HIPAA Reproductive Healthcare Privacy Rule
On April 22, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Final Rule, entitled “HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support [...]
Final Rule Strengthens Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Care
A mental health “parity law” is one requiring health plans to provide comparable coverage for mental health as it does for physical ailments. The nation’s first mental health [...]
HHS Withdraws Appeal of Online Tracking Technology Court Order
In December of 2022, HHS issued online tracking technology guidance. The guidance provided instructions for HIPAA-covered entities on how to use tracking technologies to gather information about [...]
AI Meets the Law: Colorado First State to Regulate AI in Healthcare
In May 2024, Colorado enacted the Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act (“Colorado AI Act”) - the first comprehensive artificial intelligence legislation (AI) in the United States (and with [...]
