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On April 22, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a final rule to support reproductive health care privacy (the “Reproductive Rule”). According to the HHS OCR press release, the Reproductive Rule, “is one of many actions taken by HHS...
It is rare for the Supreme Court to decide cases involving the Constitution’s Takings Clause, and, indeed, not uncommon for the Court to go years without considering the Clause at all; so, when the Court issues two decisions involving the Takings Clause in less than a week, attention must be paid...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") continues to be actively engaged in investigating and settling alleged HIPAA violations. In advance of Mother's Day, two decisions were announced for HIPAA-covered entities that allegedly did not provide...
On February 14, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued two reports to Congress as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. The reports are helpful to health care providers (and all...
On February 14, 2024, the Delaware Office of Marijuana Control (OMC) released draft regulations for the state’s adult-use cannabis market. Public comment is due on or before March 29, 2024. These regulations include the rules applicable to the licensing of adult-use cannabis businesses; the...
On February 16, 2024, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a final version of the cybersecurity resource guide (the “Guide”) with respect to the HIPAA Security Rule. As noted in the Guide’s abstract, “This publication provides...
On February 6, 2024, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a settlement with Montefiore Medical Center (“MMC”) for alleged HIPAA Security Rule violations and MMC agreed to pay $4.75 million and enter into a two-year corrective action plan (“CAP”) with OCR. MMC admitted no wrongdoing...
In December 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a $480,000 settlement with a Louisiana medical group following a phishing incident. In 2021, the medical group filed a breach report with HHS stating that a hacker – through a...
On November 20, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced an $80,000 HIPAA settlement with Saint Joseph’s Medical Center (“SJMC”) in New York State. The settlement was the result of OCR’s investigation of SJMC after the Associated Press...
On November 7, 2023, the City Council of Chicago approved a referendum that will put Chicago’s ‘mansion tax’ on the 2024 primary ballot on March 19, 2024. If passed, the measure would change the amount of real estate transfer taxes the City of Chicago imposes on commercial and residential properties...
On Halloween, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $100,000 settlement under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with Doctors’ Management Services (DMS), a Massachusetts medical management company that provides...
On August 24, 2023, the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights ("OCR" or the "Department") released a Dear Colleague Letter (the "DCL") regarding "Race and School Programming." This DCL, which surely appears to be a response to the Supreme Court's ruling in Students for Fair...
A recent Law360 article by Peter Murphy provided that to-date, cannabis companies are unlikely to challenge the constitutionally of mandating labor peace agreements (LPAs) as a condition of state cannabis license. It looks like change is in the air. What You Need to Know: A Rhode Island cannabis...
After extensive negotiating, party-line votes, and resolution of conflicts between the senate and house, Minnesota’s Adult-Use Cannabis bill (“HF 100” or “the bill”) is finally headed to the Governor’s desk. The Governor has indicated he is eager to sign the bill, making Minnesota the 23rd state to...
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced two (2) different settlements, one with a HIPAA business associate for $350,000 and one with a HIPAA-covered entity pursuant to the OCR Right of Access Initiative for $15,000...
On Friday, April 21, 2023, Gov. John Carney issued a press release indicating he would not veto two legalization bills on his desk as he did one year ago, and they would go into effect on Sunday, April 23, 2023. Sources suggest that, unlike last year, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly would...
On March 7, 2023 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (the “HUD”) Secretary, Marcia L. Fudge, issued a public memorandum (the “Memo”) expressing concern over a lack of transparency in fees charged to residential tenants. The Memo calls on housing providers and state and local...