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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...
Understanding the complex intersection of environmental regulations intended to combat climate change between now and 2050 while responding to the U.S. tech economy’s exponential growth in energy demand will require collaboration between consumers, industry and government, and reliance upon a...
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...
This checklist highlights certain considerations for companies preparing to file annual reports on Form 10-K for the calendar year ended 2023 and is intended to serve as a focused resource highlighting changes in disclosure requirements and points of emphasis for the Securities and Exchange...
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...
On Tuesday, January 2, 2024, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”) announced its proposal to amend the Ground Water Quality Standards (“GWQS”) under N.J.A.C. 7:9C to change the ground water quality criteria for 65 constituents of Class II-A ground water. NJDEP is also...
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 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 October 13, 2023 in Philadelphia, President Biden and Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) Granholm announced the seven regional hydrogen hubs (H2Hubs) selected for negotiation with DOE for $7 billion in funding. What You Need to Know: President Biden announced the selection of seven...
This issue of Saul on ESG: Trends & Updates marks our first update tracking the legal trends and developments around environmental, social and governance (ESG). In recent years, we have been tracking and highlighting changes on the ESG front, but this regular publication will allow us to dive...
The deal reached between the President and House Speaker McCarthy on the debt limit bill includes provisions approving a natural gas pipeline project (Mountain Valley Pipeline) and eliminating any judicial review of its existing and future permits, and also includes some limited reform of the...
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 December 2, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights (“ OCR ”) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (“ SAMHSA ”) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“ HHS ”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ NPRM ”) to revise the Confidentiality of Substance Use...
Two federal programs administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) provide financial assistance in the form of grants and rebates to public and non-profit entities seeking to replace their existing buses and trucks into clean vehicles. The most recent program was...
The Inflation Reduction Act (the “IRA”), signed into law on August 16, 2022, appropriates nearly $27 billion to provide financial assistance to certain entities in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. This “Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund” (the “Fund”) is available to a wide range of recipients...