December 17, 2020
By Mark Spivey HHS Unveils Proposed HIPAA Changes
The move is just one of many regulatory tweaks being made amid the looming presidential transition. In a landmark move made amid a flurry of other regulatory revisions affecting the healthcare industry, federal officials announced that they are proposing changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA’s) Privacy…
September 17, 2020
By Timothy Powell, CPA CHCP Do Tech Giants Violate HIPAA by Tracking Trends?
The Social Dilemma of Health (SDoH). In March 2018, the world was shocked when it became public knowledge that Cambridge Analytica, a company based in the United Kingdom, had used data from Facebook to impact the presidential election in the United States. It turned out that they had also provided…
November 21, 2019
By Timothy Powell, CPA CHCP Google Stumbles into Healthcare
Google’s researchers apparently didn’t obtain HIPAA releases from patients. Recently, Google has made some stunning stumbles as it moves into the realm of handling healthcare data. First, this is surprising, considering the growing distrust among the public and regulators of platforms like Google and Facebook. Second, and more surprisingly, it…
By Juliet B. Ugarte Hopkins, MD, CHCQM-PHYADV
Case managers could be at risk relative to discharge planning. While not significantly common, hospital case managers have been named in nursing malpractice suits, primarily in association with discharge planning. Attorneys Jessica L. Gustafson, Esq. and Abby Pendleton, Esq. from The Health Law Partners, P.C. discussed this issue and other…
September 20, 2018
By Ellen Fink-Samnick MSW, ACSW, LCSW, CCM, CRP Emergency Preparedness 101: Going Beyond “Process and Roll”
Accounting for socioeconomic factors is critical to the sustainability of healthcare. Editor’s Note: This article was written as Hurricane Florence was heading directly for the United States’ East Coast. Stores from the Georgia to Delaware have barren shelves where staples, as water and toilet paper are usually stocked. Nature and…
By Ellen Fink-Samnick MSW, ACSW, LCSW, CCM, CRP
The government of Puerto Rico's official Hurricane Maria death toll at 2,975. The 2017 hurricane season devastated entire regions of the globe, especially states and territories of the United States. Harvey, Irma, and Maria were a storm trifecta that yielded losses so profound, the communities in their paths will be…
By Mary Inman, Esq. and Max Voldman, Esq.
The whistleblower brought this suit under the federal False Claims Act. The False Claims Act (FCA) allows a private party (known as a “relator” or “whistleblower”) with inside information about fraud against the government to file a lawsuit on the government’s behalf and receive 15 to 30 percent of the…
February 1, 2018
By Chuck Buck Workplace Sexual Harassment Now a Civil Rights Violation
Signed into law on July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was a landmark piece of legislation. Its protections have now been expanded by Congress. A great deal of news continues to be reported on patterns of workplace sexual harassment across all industries, including entertainment, finance, government, and healthcare. Beyond…
May 15, 2017
By Chuck Buck How to Get HIPAA Wrong
A $2.5 million settlement reported last month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reveals the risks when providers fail to understand requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
By Sara Goldstein, Esq.
I recently attended the Health Care Compliance Association’s (HCCA) Compliance Institute (March 25-29, 2017) in National Harbor, MD, where healthcare compliance experts gathered to discuss the challenges faced in today’s complex regulatory environment. From there, a short ride to Washington, D.C., took me to the annual HIPAA Summit (March 29-31,…