In March 2013, the Second Circuit certified to the New York Court of Appeals the issue of whether a medical corporation may be liable for the unauthorized disclosure of medical information, when the employee responsible for the breach was not a physician and was acting outside the scope of her employment (see post).  In Doe v. Guthrie,
Continue Reading Medical Corporation Not Liable For Employee’s Disclosure Of Confidential Medical Information

In  last week’s decision in Doe v. Guthrie Clinic, Ltd. the Second Circuit Court of Appeals certified to the New York Court of Appeals the issue of whether a medical corporation may be liable for the unauthorized disclosure of medical information, when the employee responsible for the breach was not a physician and was acting outside the scope of

Continue Reading Health Privacy Liability Issue Proceeds to NY Court of Appeals

laptop_data_breach_iStock_000015066702XSmall_400x300The US Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) released final rules on January 17, 2013 governing the privacy and security of protected health information under HIPAA and the HITECH Act.  The new rules take effect March 26, 2013; compliance is expected by September 23, 2013. This post will focus on the changes to the

Continue Reading New Breach Notification Requirements Released

The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently released its HIPAA audit protocol.  Audits of HIPAA compliance were mandated by the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act, which amended many parts of HIPAA and included breach notification requirements.

The OCR conducted a number of pilot audits of compliance with
Continue Reading Feds Release HIPAA Audit Protocol