HIE-ho, HIE-ho, it's off to Court ACLU Goes
The Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RI-DOH) was sued last week in connection with RI-DOH's proposed rules for implementing and enforcing the State's health information exchange(HIE)...
View ArticleHIE Standard of Care -- What You Don't Join Can't Hurt You.. or Could it?
It should come as no surprise that many providers are still leery about joining a HIE due to concerns over becoming potentially exposed to new liabilities. Questions such as “Who owns the data” “How...
View ArticleHIE Liability and Insurance
Liability continues to be a central concern for HIEs and their stakeholders. In general, liability may arise from the acts or omissions of a party that fails to meet a responsibility or legal duty....
View ArticleACLU Lawsuit Continues . . . Want Detailed Regulations Surrounding HIE Privacy
The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) suit against the Rhode Island Department of Health (RI-DOH) remains in litigation, awaiting completion of discovery. The ACLU...
View ArticleJust When You Think the Breach is Over, the Lawsuit Comes
On November 16th, a class of plaintiffs sued AvMed for a massive breach that resulted in their personal information being put at risk. In December of 2009, unencrypted laptop computers were stolen...
View ArticleDrug Database Firms Have Much to be Thankful for this Past Thanksgiving as...
On November 23, 2010, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued its ruling that Vermont’s drug-marketing restrictions were unconstitutional. The law banned the use, sale or transmission of...
View ArticleAre Cloud-based HIEs Subject to Twitter-Google-Facebook-like Subpoenas?
In a recent New York Times article, Google, Twitter and other internet companies raise concerns regarding the wave of requests they receive for customer data from law enforcement agencies. Last year,...
View ArticlePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act Declared Unconstitutional
In a brief 78 page Opinion, Federal District Court Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Florida struck down portions of the the Patient Protection and Affordable...
View ArticleHITECH Takes a Political HIT
A Bill introduced in the House (H.R.408) Spending Reduction Act of 2011, aims to reduce spending by trillions of dollars, including by eliminating funding for Meaningful Use. Although it is too early...
View ArticleFor Lack of a Proper "Print" Function - The Difficulties in Responding to...
Prepared by Krystyna H. Nowik, Esq. As the use of electronic health records (EHRs) and participation in health information exchanges (HIEs) expands, so does their appearance in court. EHRs are more...
View ArticleCVS in the HIPAA Spotlight...Again.
On March 7, CVS Caremark (CVS) hit the HIPAA spotlight again, and not in a good way. Back in 2009, CVS was the target of a joint U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Offices for Civil...
View ArticleThe Antitrust Headache: What ACOs, AT&T and Blue Cross have in Common
So what exactly do a nation-wide health insurer and the second (potentially now first) largest U.S. wireless provider have in common? Upcoming battles over the antitrust implications of their actions...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CDT Analyzes Privacy Issues in Sorrell v. IMS Health, Inc.
In my previous post (Nov 2010) regarding the Sorrell case, I pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision (either way) will have a profound impact on data-mining and how certain patient...
View ArticleClass Action Sought for Charleston Area Medical Center Breach
Patients affected by a West Virginia hospital breach that went undetected for several months are seeking certification as a class action as reported by Health Data Management. Five of the...
View ArticleU.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Vermont's Prescription Drug Data Mining Ban Law
Last Friday, the United States Supreme Court struck down the Vermont Prescription Confidentiality Law allowing prescriber-identifying information to be sold and disclosed by pharmacies and...
View ArticleSupreme Court to Hear Arguments on Suit for Damages under the Privacy Act
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments tomorrow, November 30, in a suit for damages under the Privacy Act stemming from a wrongful disclosure of confidential information. Federal...
View ArticleYet Another Class-Action Filed After Breaches of Patient Data
In what appears to be the trend in California for 2011, another class-action lawsuit has been filed, this time by patients of the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) Health System affected by a...
View ArticleState AG Brings First HIPAA Lawsuit Against Business Associate
Last month, I posted how treatment of business associates during HIPAA investigations remains unclear as well as assignment of liability for breaches of PHI. A final "omnibus rule" is expected to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Will HIPAA Conviction Appeal Loss Open the "Zhou" Gates?
This post is prepared by Christopher Dodson. Readers of this blog are probably familiar with the case of Dr. Huping Zhou, who was successfully prosecuted for violating HIPAA's privacy protections....
View ArticleDoctor Sued for Posting Pictures of Drunk Model on Facebook
A Chicago physician is being sued by former Northwestern University student and freelance model Elena Chernyakova after the physician allegedly posted pictures of her drunk on Instagram and Facebook....
View Article