Reactions to the proposed Internet SAFETY Act

There’s a great deal of hand-wringing and outrage expressed over new legislation proposed in both the House and the Senate intended to add all sorts of requirements to Internet and other electronic communication service providers in…

A few new (and sharper) teeth in HIPAA enforcement

Several valid criticisms of HIPAA since the Privacy Rule went into effect in 2003 concern lackluster efforts on enforcement of the rule’s requirements and insufficient penalties for non-compliance. The basic civil penalty for unintentional violation is…

Accounting of disclosures to become more comprehensive

One of the requirements under the HIPAA Privacy Rule is that covered entities maintain an “accounting of disclosures” of protected health information, in part so that an individual may request a record of who accessed their…

New Federal notification requirement for breaches of protected health information

One of the more widely anticipated provisions of the HITECH Act is a new provision requiring many health information exchange participants (specifically, covered entities and business associates under HIPAA) to provide notification to individuals in the…

Stronger provisions coming with the stimulus bill

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which the president is expected to sign into law on Tuesday, contains within it the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, as Title XIII….