Any healthcare organization that embeds tracking technologies in its website should carefully review whether it is inadvertently violating HIPAA or other federal regulations, said Nick Heesters, senior adviser for cybersecurity at the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights.
The drumbeat for potential federal legislation to better protect sensitive health information - or at least new regulations - appears to be growing louder in Congress. One of the Senate's four lawmaker doctors is quizzing the healthcare industry on ways to safeguard health data.
Federal regulators have smacked a large California health plan with a $1.3 million fine to settle potential HIPAA violations for two relatively small breaches that affected about 2,250 individuals. But officials indicate "long-standing HIPAA deficiencies" were a "systemic" problem at the insurer.
A federal judge has given the green light for attorneys to proceed with a consolidated class action lawsuit against Meta that accuses the social media giant of intercepting sensitive health information with its Pixel tracking tools used in numerous healthcare websites and patient portals.
An Alabama pediatric dental practice is notifying nearly 130,000 patients that their sensitive information was compromised in a recent cyberattack. The entity appears to have potentially paid a ransom in exchange for a promise by hackers to destroy breached data without further releasing it.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services have publicly named 130 hospitals and telehealth companies that were recently warned that the use of online tracking tools in their websites or mobile apps potentially violates federal data privacy and security regulations.
Medical device maker Medtronic MiniMed violated patient privacy by using tracking and authentication technologies such as Google Analytics and Firebase in its InPen diabetes management app and services, according to a proposed federal class action lawsuit filed this week.
A recently updated guidance document developed by an advisory group to the Department of Health and Human Services can help all types of organizations within the healthcare sector be better prepared to deal with the latest cyberthreats, said attorney David Holtzman of HITprivacy LLC.
Four years ago, federal regulators started sending a message to healthcare entities about the need to give patients timely access to their health records. Insurer UnitedHealthcare, the 45th firm penalized for potential "right to access" violations, agreed to an $80,000 fine and corrective action.
AI holds great promise for certain applications in healthcare, particularly around clinical research, but security leaders - and others involved in governance within medical institutions - must be ready for the implications, said John Frushour, CISO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
The Food and Drug Administration's newly enhanced authority over medical device security - as granted by a funding bill signed into law last year - is "transformative" in raising the bar on what is expected from makers in their product submissions to the agency, said Dr. Suzanne Schwartz of the FDA.
The federal agency that enforces HIPAA is heavily focused on investigations of potential violations involving online tracking tools in healthcare websites that impermissibly transmit sensitive patient information to third parties, said Susan Rhodes of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Advocate Aurora Health has agreed to pay $12.25 million to settle consolidated class action claims that the Illinois-based hospital chain invaded patient privacy by using tracking codes on its websites and patient portal, according to a preliminary settlement plan in Wisconsin federal court.
A nonprofit firm that administers government dental programs in Canada paid a "substantial" ransom for a decryptor key and the destruction of data stolen in a recent ransomware attack. But the company is now notifying nearly 1.5 million individuals that the hack compromised their data.
Tampa General Hospital is facing at least three proposed federal class action lawsuits filed in recent days following the nonprofit Florida healthcare provider's disclosure late last month of a data theft incident that affected 1.3 million patients and employees.
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