A lawsuit has been filed against Freehold Township, NJ-based CentraState Healthcare System over its December 2022 ransomware attack, a few days after the health system started sending notification letters to around 617,000 affected patients. The lawsuit alleges CentraState Medical Center was negligent for failing to implement adequate and reasonable safeguards to protect the sensitive data… Read More »
The Biden Administration is considering new rulemaking to update HIPAA to better protect reproductive health information, following the Supreme Court Decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which removed the federal right to abortion and left it to individual states to decide on the legality of abortions for state residents. Currently, at least 24… Read More »
Freehold Township, NJ-based CentraState Healthcare System has recently confirmed that its network was compromised by unauthorized individuals in December 2022. Unusual activity was detected within its computer systems on December 29, and immediate action was taken to isolate the network and block unauthorized access. CentraState has been working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and independent… Read More »
Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) in Pennsylvania has confirmed that it is dealing with a ransomware attack that was detected on February 6, 2023. An announcement was made on Monday confirming the Russian-speaking ransomware gang, BlackCat, was behind the attack and demanded a ransom, but no payment was made. Brian A. Nester, LVHN President and… Read More »
Compliancy Group has confirmed that the secure mobile messaging solution provider, SendQuick, has demonstrated compliance with the federally mandated standards of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and has been awarded the HIPAA Seal of Compliance. SendQuick’s mobile messaging solutions, which include IT alerts & notifications, secure remote access via multi-factor authentication, business… Read More »
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has published a report it sent to Congress that details its HIPAA enforcement activities in 2021, which provides insights into the state of compliance with the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules. The report makes it clear that OCR’s resources are under considerable strain, and without an… Read More »
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has publicly released two reports that were submitted to Congress that provide insights into data breaches, HIPAA enforcement activity, and the state of HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule compliance for calendar year 2021. According to OCR, in calendar year 2021, OCR received 609… Read More »
DNA Diagnostics Center (DDC), one of the largest private DNA testing laboratories in the United States, has been fined a total of $400,000 by state attorneys general in Pennsylvania and Ohio for violations of state laws that contributed to a breach of the personal information of almost 46,000 Pennsylvania and Ohio residents, and approximately 2.1… Read More »
HIPAA Journal is conducting interviews with healthcare professionals, compliance professionals, and industry service providers to find out more about how their experiences with HIPAA, their successes, and the challenges they have and continue to face with HIPAA compliance. This week, Stacey A. Tovino, JD, Ph.D., William J. Alley Professor of Law and Director of Graduate Healthcare… Read More »
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island (ACLU of RI) has amended its complaint against the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) and UnitedHealthcare New England (UHC) in their pending class action lawsuit over an August 2021 data breach. RIPTA is a state agency that operates the public bus service in Rhode Island. In August… Read More »