Certain health care providers, health information technology (IT) developers, and health plans could see the way they share patient information transformed following the release of two new final rules issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The rules address interoperability and information blocking. Reed Smith partner Nancy Bonifant Halstead and senior associate … Continue Reading
When a data breach is discovered by a company, it is often the responsibility of the company’s in-house counsel to swiftly assess the breach and provide an initial report to company management. There are several steps that in-house counsel should follow if faced with a breach to allow for an adequate assessment that company management can use. As noted … Continue Reading
Until now, the loss or theft of protected health information rarely resulted in notice to consumers. Very few state data security breach notification laws encompass medical information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") merely required an "accounting" of such events to a patient upon the patient's request.
All that has changed. Congress, in enacting the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act ("HITECH"), imposed breach notification obligations on many of the individuals and business entities that receive, create, or maintain patients' individually identifiable health information. Pursuant to HITECH, on Aug. 17, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") issued its Health Breach Notification Rule, governing the breach notification obligations of three new categories of entity: "vendors of personal health records," "PHR related entities" and "third party service providers."… Continue Reading
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the "ARRA"). The sweeping $790 billion economic stimulus package includes a number of health care policy provisions. Reed Smith's Health Care Memorandum summarizes the major health policy provisions of the Act.… Continue Reading
