HIPAA Journal

JULY 28, 2023

The HHS’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is being urged not to implement the proposed standards for prior authorization attachments, as detailed in its December 2022 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR).

HIPAA 83

HIPAA Health Insurance Medicaid Medicaid 83

HIPAA Journal

MARCH 15, 2023

According to the breach notification, ILS identified suspicious activity within its computer systems on July 5, 2022. Assisted by third-party cybersecurity experts, ILS determined that unauthorized individuals accessed its network between June 30, 2022, and July 5, 2022, and acquired files containing sensitive data.

HIPAA 106

HIPAA Health Insurance Medicaid Medicaid 106

HIPAA Journal

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Humana has recently announced that the protected health information of 22,767 individuals has potentially been compromised in a security incident and data breach at one of its business associates – Choice Health – which Human used to sell Medicare products on its behalf.

Health Insurance 105

Health Insurance Medicare Medicare Fraud 105

HIPAA Journal

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Valle de Sol did not state in its notification letters when hackers gained access to its network, or for how long they had access, but did confirm that the unauthorized activity was detected on January 25, 2022. A comprehensive review was conducted of all files that may have been accessed, which was completed on July 18, 2022.

Health Insurance 113

Health Insurance Licensing Fraud HIPAA 113

HIPAA Journal

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

Two lawsuits have recently been filed against Costco Wholesale over the use of these trackers on the Costco Pharmacy pages of the Costco website, which has allegedly impermissibly disclosed information protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Ellersick and Hart L.

HIPAA 104

HIPAA Health Insurance Medicare Medicare 104

Compliancy Group

AUGUST 19, 2022

On Friday afternoon, July 15, 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced 11 enforcement actions against healthcare providers across the country for alleged violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule right of access provisions. Let’s Simplify Compliance Avoid HIPAA violation fines.

HIPAA 52

HIPAA COVID-19 Compliance Health Insurance 52

HIPAA Journal

MARCH 21, 2023

ILS Identified the breach in July 2022 and determined unauthorized individuals had access to its network between June 30, 2022, and July 5, 2022. The post Independent Living Systems Sued Over 4 Million-Record Data Breach appeared first on HIPAA Journal. The lawsuit was filed by Joseph G.

Fraud 98

Fraud Health Insurance Medicaid Medicaid 98

HIPAA Journal

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

That process concluded on June 24, 2022. Those emails contained patient information such as names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, medical information, health insurance information, driver’s license numbers, and state ID numbers. appeared first on HIPAA Journal.

Licensing 96

Licensing Health Insurance Fraud HIPAA 96

HIPAA Journal

MAY 19, 2022

The settlement has received preliminary approval from the court and a final hearing for the settlement has been scheduled for September 12, 2022. The deadline for submitting a claim is August 8, 2022, and the deadline for objecting to the settlement or requesting to be excluded from the settlement is August 22, 2022.

Licensing 106

Licensing HIPAA Health Insurance Medicaid 106

HIPAA Journal

FEBRUARY 15, 2022

Notification letters started to be sent to all affected individuals on January 24, 2022, and complimentary identity theft monitoring services have been offered to affected individuals. The post Hackers Gained Access to Files Containing the PHI of 115,670 South Shore Hospital Patients appeared first on HIPAA Journal.

Hospitals 113

Hospitals Health Insurance HIPAA Medicaid 113

HIPAA Journal

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

Anesthesiology firms started reporting data breaches to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights in September 2022, with the notification letters to patients indicating there had been a data breach at their anesthesia management services organization. The notification letters failed to name that company.

HIPAA 81

HIPAA Fraud Licensing Health Insurance 81

HIPAA Journal

MARCH 14, 2022

CRMC said at this stage of the investigation it does not appear that the attackers gained access to its electronic medical record database; however, the files accessed or potentially accessed by the attackers included information such as patient names, addresses, birth dates, medical information, and health insurance information.

Electronic Medical Records 128

Electronic Medical Records Health Insurance HIPAA Licensing 128

HIPAA Journal

MAY 16, 2022

Refuah Health Center in New York has recently started notifying 260,740 patients about a security breach that occurred almost a year ago. According to the April 29, 2022, notification on the healthcare provider’s website, “We recently discovered unauthorized access to our network occurred between May 31, 2021, and June 1, 2021.”

Health Insurance 103

Health Insurance Ransomware HIPAA Licensing 103

HIPAA Journal

OCTOBER 6, 2022

Mon Health announced the security breach on February 28, 2022, and confirmed that the hackers had access to the personal and protected health information of 492,861 individuals , including information about patients, employees, providers, and contractors. The lawsuit, which names Monongalia Health Systems Inc.

HIPAA 89

HIPAA Fraud Hospitals Health Insurance 89

Health Law RX

JUNE 28, 2022

The Guidance is the strongest signal yet from OCR that it intends to resume imposing penalties against covered entities that do not comply with the HIPAA Rules when providing telehealth. The Guidance is meant to assist covered entities with HIPAA compliance when the Telehealth Notification (defined below) is no longer in effect.

HIPAA 52

HIPAA Compliance COVID-19 Medicaid 52

HIPAA Journal

APRIL 13, 2022

The Philadelphia, PA-based national human services nonprofit organization, Resources for Human Development (RHD), has recently confirmed that a hard drive containing the protected health information of 46,673 individuals has been stolen. The theft occurred on or around January 27, 2022, and was discovered by RHD on February 16, 2022.

Ransomware 111

Ransomware Licensing HIPAA Health Insurance 111

HIPAA Journal

MARCH 25, 2022

Notification letters were sent to affected individuals on February 22, 2022. AHA discovered the email breach in early September 2021 and determined on December 2, 2021, that files containing the protected health information of its healthcare provider clients had been accessed. AHA provided notice about the attack on January 6, 2021.

Health Insurance 104

Health Insurance Licensing Ransomware Fraud 104

HIPAA Journal

AUGUST 24, 2022

Onyx Technologies, a Largo, MD-based provider of Information Technology and Consulting Services and a vendor of Independent Care Health Plan (iCare), has recently notified 96,814 health plan members that some of their protected health information has potentially been compromised.

Licensing 91

Licensing HIPAA Hospitals Health Insurance 91

HIPAA Journal

APRIL 25, 2023

On February 13, 2023, NationsBenefits confirmed that the data compromised in the attack included protected health information such as name, address, phone number, gender, date of birth, health insurance number, medical ID number, Social Security number, date(s) of service, medical device or product purchased, and provider/caregiver name.

Health Insurance 81

Health Insurance Public Health Ransomware Fraud 81

HIPAA Journal

JUNE 21, 2023

Approximately 13,700 of the affected individuals were members of Vermont Blue Advantage Health Insurance Plans, around 2,250 individuals were members of Vermont Blue Advantage Plans, and the remainder of the affected individuals were members of other insurance plans.

Health Insurance 82

Health Insurance Licensing HIPAA Medicare 82

HIPAA Journal

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Last month, HIPAA Journal reported that 13 providers of anesthesia services to hospitals had been affected by the breach. The breach was detected by the MSO on July 11, 2022, with the forensic investigation determining information stored on its systems had been compromised. The tool was removed in August 2022.

HIPAA 62

HIPAA Health Insurance Licensing Medicaid 62

HIPAA Journal

JUNE 8, 2023

Names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and health insurance were impermissibly disclosed. Telligen subcontracted part of that work to Independent Living Systems (ILS), where the data breach occurred in June and July 2022. The protected health information of approximately 20,800 Medicaid members was compromised in the attack.

Medicaid 80

Medicaid Medicaid Ransomware Health Insurance 80

Health Law RX

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is signaling that it is cracking down on healthcare organizations that fail to identify and address cybersecurity vulnerabilities as required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA Rules).

HIPAA 52

HIPAA Ransomware Compliance Medicaid 52

HIPAA Journal

MARCH 3, 2022

Mon Health said the incident also affected its affiliated hospitals: Monongalia County General Hospital Company, Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital Company, and Preston Memorial Hospital Corporation. Notification letters started to be sent to affected individuals on February 28, 2022.

Health Insurance 81

Health Insurance Hospitals HIPAA Medicare 81

C&M Health Law

JANUARY 20, 2023

This builds on the HIPAA Transactions Rule standards for financial and administrative transactions among health care providers and health plans and aligns with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) interoperability regulations.

HIPAA 52

HIPAA US Department of Health and Human Services Compliance Health Insurance 52

HIPAA Journal

OCTOBER 17, 2022

RAA said the review and cataloging of the affected files took until July 2022 to complete, then it took until September 2022 to verify up-to-date contact information. The post Radiology Associates of Albuquerque Notifies Patients About Security Breach That Started in December 2020 appeared first on HIPAA Journal.

Licensing 55

Licensing HIPAA Health Insurance Medicaid 55

HIPAA Journal

APRIL 8, 2022

The email accounts were compromised between January 10 and 11, 2022. That review was completed on March 16, 2022. That process was completed on January 27, 2022, the affected clients were notified, and authorization was received to send notification letters.

Medical Billing 110

Medical Billing Licensing Health Insurance Medicaid 110

HIPAA Journal

JULY 4, 2023

ARx Patient Solutions Reports Email Account Breach from 2022 The Kansas-based healthcare provider, ARx Patient Solutions, has recently notified the Maine Attorney General about a security breach that has affected 41,116 individuals, including individuals who used the ARx Patient Solutions Pharmacy.

Medicaid 72

Medicaid Medicaid Health Insurance Licensing 72

HIPAA Journal

MARCH 16, 2023

According to the notice sent to the Maine Attorney General, suspicious activity was detected within its computer network on September 16, 2022; however, it took until March 8, 2023, to determine that patient data had been exposed. The post Protected Health Information Exposed in 5 Recent Hacking Incidents appeared first on HIPAA Journal.

Electronic Medical Records 62

Electronic Medical Records Health Insurance Ransomware HIPAA 62

HIPAA Journal

JUNE 8, 2023

PVOC discovered on March 3, 2022, that malware had been installed on the servers of the vendors between November 13, 2021, and November 15, 2021. On May 11, 2022, PVOC learned that Alta’s online patient portal was vulnerable to unauthorized access to payment receipts until October 26, 2021.

Ransomware 93

Ransomware HIPAA Licensing Health Insurance 93

HIPAA Journal

MARCH 9, 2022

A review of the emails and attachments was conducted and it was confirmed on February 25, 2022, that the accounts contained names along with one or more of the following data types: inpatient/outpatient status, internal patient account number, service date, treatment cost, procedure code, provider name, and/or health insurance provider.

Health Insurance 65

Health Insurance Licensing Hospitals HIPAA 65

AIHC

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

The focus of this article is to “connect the dots” between Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) and HITECH regarding privacy and security of electronically protected health information (ePHI). However, your organization should not address only “HIPAA” or only “HITECH”. What is “HITECH”?

HIPAA 59

HIPAA Compliance Governance Health Insurance 59

AIHC

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

The focus of this article is to “connect the dots” between Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) and HITECH regarding privacy and security of electronically protected health information (ePHI). However, your organization should not address only “HIPAA” or only “HITECH”. What is “HITECH”?

HIPAA 52

HIPAA Compliance Governance Health Insurance 52

Hall Render

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

AMA scrutinizes lack of competition, consumer harms in Medicare Advantage plans. CMS makes big changes to Medicare Shared Savings Program. CVS Health, Walgreens each to settle all opioid cases for $5B. HHS releases video on documenting recognized HIPAA security practices. CMS bumps ASC payments to 3.8 That Number is 3.

US Department of Health and Human Services 40

US Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 Nurses Nursing Homes 40

AIHC

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

A 2022 report from the Commonwealth Fund U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2022: Accelerating Spending, Worsening Outcomes indicates that in 2021 the U.S. We recommend reading Leadership in a Value-Based Care (VBC) Environment in addition to this article. Why this Trend of Value-Based Care?

Medicare 59

Medicare Medicare Medicaid Medicaid 59

Healthcare Law Blog

JANUARY 26, 2024

On December 13, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a proposed rule, titled Advancing Interoperability and Improving Prior Authorization Processes (“Proposed Rule”), to improve patient and provider access to health information and streamline processes related to prior authorizations for medical items and services.

US Department of Health and Human Services 52

US Department of Health and Human Services Medicare Medicare Medicaid 52

AIHC

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

A 2022 report from the Commonwealth Fund U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2022: Accelerating Spending, Worsening Outcomes indicates that in 2021 the U.S. We recommend reading Leadership in a Value-Based Care (VBC) Environment in addition to this article. Why this Trend of Value-Based Care?

Medicare 52

Medicare Medicare Medicaid Medicaid 52