As the number of successful cyberattacks on healthcare organizations continues to rise, a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is calling on HHS to better ensure the protection of electronic protected health information (ePHI). […]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has reached a $90,000 settlement with Oklahoma-based Bryan County Ambulance Authority (BCAA) to settle a potential violation of the Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule linked to a ransomware attack against BCAA that breached the provider’s encrypted files and impacted more than 14,000 of its patients.   […]

The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) component has not comprehensively assessed the quality of care patients have received through telehealth services, and lacks some key data on telehealth services delivered in patients’ homes or via phone, according to a recent report published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).   […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) needs to improve its communications around data breach reporting in order to enhance health care delivery. […]

Advocate Health Care Network, the largest fully integrated health care system in Illinois, has agreed to pay $5.55 million for multiple HIPAA violations–the largest settlement against a single entity to date. […]

Since 2003, the Office for Civil Rights has settled HIPAA violations to the tune of $36 million, with the two most recent settlements coming from Oregon Health & Science University and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. […]

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights released an infographic, “Your Health Information, Your Rights,” to provide health consumers with facts on an individual’s right to access their medical records, examples of how to obtain medical records, and tips for protecting health information. […]