Health Law Alert

On February 24, 2014, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it will begin a second round of HIPAA compliance audits.  The audits will address compliance with the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules.  The audit program will affect covered entities, […]

A Florida federal district court has allowed a qui tam case to proceed arising from claims submitted to a state Medicaid program due to a potential Stark law violation.  In U.S. v. All Childrens Health System,  the relator, who had worked for All Childrens for many years as a practice […]

On February 6, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Office for Civil Rights jointly released final rules that give individuals direct access to lab test results.  The new rules have implications for hospital labs, including reference labs, and allow individuals (or […]

On February 20, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued guidance (the “Guidance”) addressing frequently asked questions about sharing mental health information under the HIPAA Privacy Rule.  The Guidance clarifies when HIPAA permits a health care provider to share information with a […]

Long recommended as a key document in compliance risk assessment, the 2014 Work Plan covers all provider types and continues the practice of reprinting the descriptions of projects that are conducted over more than one year. The Work Plan is usually issued in October, but was released late (January 31, […]