Office of Civil Rights

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On Monday, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) announced an enforcement action against Bayfront Health St. Petersburg (“Bayfront”) for allegedly failing to provide a mother timely access to her unborn child’s prenatal medical records. The enforcement action is noteworthy in that it marks OCR’s first…

The Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced on August 18, 2016 that it is stepping up enforcement actions related to small breaches.  Although OCR investigates all reported breaches affecting more than 500 people, this new initiative will increase investigations of breaches affecting fewer than 500 people.  As OCR recognizes, …

Our colleagues at Data Law Insights have written about the HHS Office of Civil Rights’ $750,000 settlement with the University of Washington Medicine (“UWM”) announced this week.  This third settlement in as many weeks confirms that the security risk analysis continues to be a linchpin of OCR enforcement under the HIPAA Security Rule.  Indeed, the …