Compliance & Legal

In July, a Maryland federal judge issued an injunction blocking the FDA's in-person abortion requirements for the duration of the pandemic.

The CDC this week issued controversial guidelines saying people without symptoms may not need to seek testing, even if they've been exposed to someone with the virus.

Following President Trump's executive order on virtual care, the American Hospital Association issued a series of recommendations supporting access to telehealth after the public health emergency ends.

A nonexistent "Secretary of Compliance, HIPAA Compliance Division" is mailing postcards that ask privacy and security leaders to visit a fraudulent URL for the purpose of setting up a risk assessment.

While the APIs mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act will eventually enable a more "seamless experience" across the care continuum, he said, state health information exchanges have a crucial role to play in coordinating pandemic response right now.

The guidelines suggest the ability to document all guardians and caregivers, compute weight-based drug dosage and track incomplete preventative care opportunities.

On the surface, like with other HHS settlements, it may seem harsh, regarding only the amount of money vis-a-vis the number of patients affected. But it's important to consider what OCR is trying to accomplish.

Much of the worldwide spending increase on APIs, data integration, analytics and more will be driven by governmental regulations and policy requirements, analysts said.

The Rhode Island health system has settled with OCR for the HIPAA violation after an employee's computer went missing – with protected health information of 20,431 individuals left accessible.

The agency will accept suggestions for new data classes for the United States Core Data for Interoperability, via its new ONDEC system, through Oct. 9.