With all the wildly erroneous claims made by people about what is covered by HIPAA, here’s a great explainer by attorney Jeff Drummond on exactly what kinds of entities ARE covered by HIPAA (Spoiler alert: yes, your local bar CAN ask you your vaccination status without violating HIPAA because they are not covered by HIPAA)….
Category: HIPAA
If Your Disclosure of a Data Breach Was “Late,” You May Have to Litigate
Jean E. Tomasco of Robinson & Cole writes about a breach involving an accounting firm that is a business associate to a number of covered entities. This month, the firm, Bansley & Kierner, issued a notice and started notifying individuals and HHS. But the time frame for discovery and notification has resulted in a potential…
United Health Centers of San Joaquin Valley remains publicly silent after ransomware attack
Threat actors known as Vice Society have disclosed another attack on the healthcare sector. This time, the victim is United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley in California. Lawrence Abrams of BleepingComputer reports: On August 31st, BleepingComputer was told by a source in the cybersecurity industry that United Health Centers was reeling from a…
Reports of ePHI breaches are everywhere, but not always were you might look
There are a number of journalists or sites that monitor news and legal notices for disclosures of breaches involving protected health information (PHI). And it’s tempting, when you see that the entity is a business, to just skip on by. But don’t. If a business has a health plan for employees, then they may be…
Ransomware Resources for HIPAA Regulated Entities
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is sharing the following information to ensure that HIPAA regulated entities are aware of the resources available to assist in preventing, detecting, and mitigating breaches of unsecured protected health information caused by hacking and ransomware. HHS Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center Threat Briefs: https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/ocio/hc3/products/index.html#sector-alerts January 28, 2021 –…
Internal emails raise questions about government’s investigation into Walgreens privacy breach
I am so glad to see a follow-up on this case because I had the same questions about how and why Walgreens did not suffer the same federal penalties as CVS and Rite Aid for the same infringement of HIPAA. My original coverage of this breach is no longer online as the former version of…