Doctor Faces Criminal Charges for Wrongful Disclosures under “False Pretenses” Tripping on the heels of the HIPAA criminal charges against Chelsea Catherine Stewart for theft of patient information, (see my previous post on June 14, 2011), a physician was indicted June 21, 2011 on three...
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Vermont’s Prescription Drug Data Mining Ban Law
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Vermont’s Prescription Drug Data Mining Ban Law Last Friday, the United States Supreme Court struck down the Vermont Prescription Confidentiality Law allowing prescriber-identifying information to be sold and disclosed by pharmacies and pharmaceutical...
Hospital Theft Leads to HIPAA Criminal Charges
Hospital Theft Leads to HIPAA Criminal Charges An Alabama woman has been slapped with criminal charges in connection with the theft of patient information from Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama, as reported by The Birmingham News. Section 1320d-6 imposes criminal penalties...
Maine Reverts Back to Opt-Out Approach for HIE
Maine Reverts Back to Opt-Out Approach for HIE In my previous post (April 26, 2011), I discussed legislation proposed by privacy advocates in Maine which would require, among other things, that patients “opt-in” before any information could be collected, accessed or disclosed through...
HHS Releases Proposed Rule for Accounting of Disclosures
HHS Releases Proposed Rule for Accounting of Disclosures A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning the accounting of disclosures (AOD)requirement under the HIPAA Privacy Rule was posted last Friday, May 31, 2011. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office...