Following the public health emergency (PHE) declaration in the state of California due to wildfires, HHS released a bulletin covering HIPAA waivers and disclosures during emergency situations.
As hospitals and health systems continue to learn about the growing number of security threats and their consequences, the role of the chief information security officer (CISO) has become more significant.
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued amended guidance on August 24 regarding covered entities (CE) and health plans contacting patients who have recovered from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to inform them about donating blood to help other COVID-19 patients.
Q: If a person has a history of substance abuse, but at the time of admission appears to be of sound mind, is that patient’s personal representative still entitled to receive information about the patient’s treatment and status?
Q: Many organizations have outsourced their PHI disposal for years. With coronavirus limiting the number of people coming in and out of medical facilities, what are your suggestions for organizations that now have to take care of PHI disposal themselves? What are the most important things to remember when handling this process?
Q: If researchers want to obtain PHI for a person who died of COVID-19, what is the protocol for releasing that information? What are the HIPAA protections?
Northern Light Health, a Maine-based healthcare system, suffered a data breach in May that affected 657,392 individuals, according to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) breach portal.
Q: As sports leagues attempt to make their return, many are going to be using daily COVID-19 testing as part of their protocol. Obviously, the leagues need to quarantine any individual who tests positive for the virus. But why is the covered entity that is performing the testing allowed to disclose a patient’s test results to the leagues?
Walgreen Co., the second largest pharmacy chain in the United States, recently reported a breach that may have involved the protected health information (PHI) of more than 72,000 individuals, according to data in the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) breach portal.
