OCR

Restructuring the OCR

By Art Gross – The Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights is responsible for enforcing and protecting civil rights and privacy rights in the healthcare industry. With the increasing number of complaints and reviews regarding HIPAA and the HITECH Act, the OCR has recently undergone…


OCR Healthcare Report Released

By Art Gross – The OCR within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for enforcing compliance with HIPAA. As part of its mandate, the OCR annually releases a report on data breaches in the healthcare industry. The most recent report, which covers the year 2021, was recently released.




Right of Access: Ongoing Focus

By Matt Fisher – An individual’s right of access to protected health information granted by HIPAA remains both an area of concern and focus. The tension is especially important given the increasing desire of individuals to obtain information about themselves and the expanding…


HIPAA Settlement on Repeat

By Matt Fisher – Stop if you’ve heard this story before: a dental practice was unhappy with patient reviews left on Yelp, so responded. In responding, the practice disclosed patient information including names and diagnoses. That is the basic outline of the latest settlement announced by the OCR to resolve an alleged HIPAA violation.


HHS OCR Issues HIPAA Requirements Bulletin

The OCR at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a bulletin to highlight the obligations of HIPAA on covered entities and business associates under the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules when using online tracking technologies.