Compliance & Legal

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights outlined several circumstances in which the disclosures of protected health information with public health authorities are permitted under HIPAA.

In lieu of permanent policy change, industry groups urged legislators to extend temporary telehealth flexibilities through the end of 2021.

The proposed rule aims to enhance patient access and smooth API-enabled data exchange by requiring the use of specific HL7 FHIR implementation guides by payers.

The new proposed rule would "break down barriers that have stood in the way of commonsense care coordination and value-based arrangements for far too long," says HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

The representatives said they're optimistic about the legislation's forward movement, given President-Elect Joe Biden's support for the 21st Century Cures Act when he was last in the White House.

Although the American Telemedicine Association commended the agency's moves to expand some services, it urged CMS to reconsider its approach to remote patient monitoring.

TechCrunch reports that the EHR and practice management vendor left sensitive patient information unencrypted and vulnerable to exposure on a Microsoft Azure-hosted server.

The National Governors Association released a white paper this week examining state policies around telehealth and outlining key considerations for governors to assess the potential implications of said policies going forward.

Its Healthcare Interoperability Readiness Program aims to help healthcare organizations understand and prep for the new rules, assess their own interoperability maturity and build new API-based exchange capabilities. 

A new Science report highlights inconsistencies between HHS Protect's information and that from other sources, such as state public health agencies.