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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...
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...
The 2021 calendar year reports from HHS OCR describe OCR’s efforts that calendar year and are instructive tools for all parties who need to comply with HIPAA to understand macro-level trends. What You Need to Know: OCR continues to receive tens of thousands HIPAA complaints each year. “Large”...
October was National Cybersecurity Month. As part of its ongoing focus on HIPAA Security Rule awareness and compliance, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) within the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), published its HIPAA Security Rule Incident Procedures newsletter (the “Newsletter”)...
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to augmentation of the administrative record following new rationales, attempted alternative ERISA causes of action, untimely ERISA claims, plans governed by ERISA even in the absence of a written plan document, and the limited weight given to residual...
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to the interpretation of time periods for claims under life insurance and disability plans, a situation where three separate administrators handled a disability benefits claim (but came to different decisions), the Eleventh Circuit’s parsing of...
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to interpretation of ambiguous policy terms, evaluation of claimant’s expert witness, inclusion of law firms as appropriate parties from whom plan administrators may seek equitable relief, transfer of cases from the claimant’s choice of venue, and...
On July 15, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the resolution of eleven investigations as part of its Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Right of Access Initiative (the "Initiative"). OCR created...
This month’s Friday Five addresses cases considering: (1) whether monetary relief in the amount of lost benefits is an available remedy for breach of fiduciary duty; (2) the validity of an ex-spouse’s beneficiary designation that contradicts a subsequent divorce decree; (3) if waiver of a pre...
No ‘slam dunk fix’ in HIPAA privacy law to protect abortion patients The Biden administration wants to lean on the decades-old privacy law to protect abortion patients. What could it actually do? “Typically, the laws are trying to catch up with where the real world is, in terms of what’s going on...
On June 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights released two guidance documents addressing (1) disclosures under the HIPAA Privacy Rule relating to reproductive health care (“Disclosure Guidance”), and (2) the privacy and security of reproductive health...
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to interpretation of regulatory deadlines, the enforceability of discretionary clauses, circuit courts going both ways on appeals from summary judgment rulings in favor of plans, and a benefits award for a former professional football player where the...
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to an award of attorney’s fees (but not) costs, class certification in an ERISA benefits case, a court finding that a physician claimant was disabled from his own occupation, a claimant paying into insurance he thinks he has, and an insurance company...
Saul Ewing LLP, a full-service law firm with attorneys in 16 offices, today announced that 59 attorneys from the Firm received the distinguished honor of being recognized for legal excellence and client service by Chambers USA 2022. Several of the Firm’s practice areas also earned high rankings...