In the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), Congress amended the federal law protecting the confidentiality of substance use disorder (SUD) records to facilitate the coordination of care in an effort to combat the opioid epidemic. It also directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to revise the related […]
Author Archives: Dena M. Castricone, CIPP/US, CIPM
The landscape of enforcement actions related to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provides valuable insights into enforcement priorities, which can vary from year to year. In fact, 2023 was very different than 2022 (“The Year of the Dentist”). Specifically, in 2023, there was a notable decrease in patients’ right of access matters […]
It’s been quite the year! Last year’s blog post on Connie was subject to five revisions between December and April, reflecting the challenges of gathering accurate information about Connecticut’s Health Information Exchange and its operation. Fortunately, there are some promising updates to share. Early 2023 The start of 2023 was marked by confusion and frustration […]
We are thrilled to announce that DMC Law, LLC is celebrating its fourth anniversary! It has been an incredible journey, and we truly are grateful for the trust and support of our clients, colleagues, and friends. Over the past four years, DMC Law, LLC has been dedicated to providing exceptional legal services to healthcare providers […]
After holding two listening sessions in September, during which the agency heard from stakeholders including practitioners, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) extended the COVID-era telehealth prescribing flexibilities again. The issue of telehealth prescribing of controlled substances after the end of the public health emergency (PHE) has been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride. The […]
It’s been a while since my last post – nearly 3 months. Riddled with guilt and with very little extra time on my hands, I turned to ChatGPT. I asked it to “draft a blog post for DMC Law, LLC apologizing for not writing a blog post in a while.” The text below is from […]
In June 2022, several media outlets broke a story about hospitals using a website technology that caused patient data to be sent to Facebook known as Meta Pixel. Specifically, the investigation found that 33% of the top 100 hospitals tracked user activity tied to scheduling appointments and, because the hospitals used Meta Pixel technology on […]
One year after Connecticut became the fifth state in the nation to adopt a consumer data privacy law, the state Legislature emerges again as a data privacy leader by adding protections for consumer health data and minors to the Connecticut Data Privacy Act (“CTDPA”). With unanimous votes in the state House and the Senate, An […]
VIA Electronic Submission at www.regulations.gov RE: HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy, NPRM, RIN 0945-AA20 Dear Department of Health and Human Services, Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments on the Notice of Proposed Rule Making regarding proposed modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy (NPRM). […]
On May 18, 2023, the day after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced only its second enforcement action under the Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR) in 13 years, it released proposed changes to “strengthen and modernize” the rule. Those proposed changes will substantially expand the scope of the HBNR. Congress, however, never intended that the […]