OCR Releases Results From First Round of HIPAA Audits
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) has release information on the initial round of mandated audits of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) covered entities. The OCR announced official details concerning the audits at an OCR and National Institute […]
Preparing for HIPAA Audits
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has recently released the initial results for the first round of HIPAA audits, as well as the HIPAA audit protocol. Covered entities need to review both the audit results and audit protocol […]
Remedies for Violation of HIPAA Privacy Rights and Medical Confidentiality – Part 1
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law I receive many questions and e-mails about possible violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA) Privacy Regulations and Security Regulations, and breaches of confidentiality of medical records and medical information. I will attempt to explain […]
Remedies for Violation of HIPAA Privacy Rights and Medical Confidentiality – Part 2
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law I receive many questions and e-mails about possible violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA) Privacy Regulations and Security Regulations, and breaches of confidentiality of medical records and medical information. More detailed information on HIPAA […]
Do You Need A HIPAA Risk Assessment?
By Danielle M. Murray, J.D. As a health care provider or owner of a health facility, you know about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. You know that you must safeguard and protect confidential patient medical information to avoid civil and criminal penalties against you and your practice. Did you know […]
Sarasota Sheriff Wants Patients to Waive HIPAA Privacy Rights
By Danielle M. Murray, J.D. Law enforcement has been working hard to bust pill mills and stop prescription drug abuse. Pharmacists and pain management doctors are under intense scrutiny by various law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Health (DOH), for their role in giving out controlled substances. “Doctor […]
Cyber Attack at Community Health Systems Affects 4.5 Million Patients-Could This be a New Trend?
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On August 18, 2014, Community Health Systems, a Tennessee-based hospital chain that has 206 hospitals in 29 states, announced that its computer system was hacked. According to a number of news reports, an outside group of hackers, originating […]
Don’t Ring in the New Year with a HIPAA Audit – Safeguard Yourself Now
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law Here’s a scary reminder: There are people attempting to hack into electronic health systems every second of every day. Thankfully, most of these attempts are unsuccessful due to the preventive technologies in place to safeguard such information. However, […]
Appeals Court Upholds Medical Malpractice Law Changes
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On July 21, a state appeals court in Tallahassee upheld the constitutionality of a controversial change in Florida’s medical malpractice law. It ruled that some privacy rights are waived when patients pursue medical malpractice lawsuits. A federal appeals […]
Purpose of Florida E-FORCSE Prescription Database Not for Disciplinary or Criminal Prosecution Purposes Against Physicians, Pharmacists or Other Health Professionals
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law As you are no doubt aware now, Florida has an active prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). It is called the “Electronic-Florida Online Reporting of Controlled Substances Evaluation” or “E-FORCSE.” More often it is referred to simply as the […]
Avoid Costly HIPAA Violations with a HIPAA Risk Assessment
By Danielle M. Murray, J.D. As a health care provider or owner of a health facility, you know about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. You know that you must safeguard and protect confidential patient medical information to avoid civil and criminal penalties against you and your practice. Did you know […]