The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a request for information (RFI) on the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act’s expansion of an individual’s right to receive an accounting of disclosures under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act…
The first defendant to receive a prison sentence for a HIPAA privacy violation was sentenced to four months in prison after admitting to illegally accessing protected health information contained in electronic medical records of celebrities and others. The defendant, a former UCLA Health System surgeon, pleaded guilty in January to…
On April 15 a bipartisan bill, the Health Information Technology Extension for Behavioral Health Services Act of 2010, was introduced in the House. The bill extends the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act’s electronic health records incentives to mental health professionals. Currently the HITECH Act provides…
Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced $162 million in awards created to help states advance the meaningful use of health IT through state health information exchange. The awards are part of a $2 billion effort, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment…
The American Hospital Association (AHA) submitted comments to CMS on the proposed definition of “meaningful use” of Electronic Health Records (EHR). The Health Information Technology for Economic Clinical Health (HITECH) Act contains an EHR Incentive Program. That program is designed to encourage eligible providers to make “meaningful use” of EHR…
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was issued in order to establish programs by which health IT technologies will be tested and certified. Such programs were mandated by the HITECH Act, which provides incentive payments to providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technologies. Companion regulations…
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed suit against Health Net of Connecticut, Inc. for its alleged failure to secure private medical and financial information involving 446,000 Connecticut enrollees. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act authorizes state attorneys general to bring actions on behalf of the…