Private Practice Ceases Conditioning of Compliance with the Privacy Rule
Private Practice Ceases Conditioning of Compliance with the Privacy Rule
Covered Entity: Private Practice
Issue: Conditioning Compliance with the Privacy Rule
A physician practice requested that patients sign an agreement
entitled “Consent and Mutual Agreement to Maintain Privacy.” The
agreement prohibited the patient from directly or indirectly publishing
or airing commentary about the physician, his expertise, and/or
treatment in exchange for the physician’s compliance with the Privacy
Rule. A patient’s rights under the Privacy Rule are not contingent on
the patient’s agreement with a covered entity. A covered entity’s
obligation to comply with all requirements of the Privacy Rule cannot be
conditioned on the patient’s silence. OCR required the covered entity
to cease using the patient agreement that conditioned the entity’s
compliance with the Privacy Rule. Additionally, OCR required the covered
entity to revise its Notice of Privacy Practices.
| What is a covered entity’s obligation under the Breach Notification Rule if it transmits an individual’s PHI to a third party designated by the individual in an access request, and the entity discovers the information was breached in transit? This guidance remains in effect only to the extent that it is consistent with the court’s order in Ciox Health, LLC v. Azar, No. 18-cv-0040 (D.D.C. January 23, 2020), which may be found at https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2018cv0040-51. More information about the order is available at https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/court-order-right-of-access/index.html. Any provision within this guidance that has been vacated by the Ciox Health decision is rescinded. ...read more |
| Health Plan Corrects Impermissible Disclosure of PHI through Training, Mitigation, and Sanctions Covered Entity: Health Plans Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures An employee of a major health insurer impermissibly disclosed the protected health information of one of its members without following the insurer's authorization and verification procedures. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the health insurer to train its staff on the applicable policies and procedures and to mitigate the harm to the individual. In addition, the employee who made the disclosure was counseled and given a written warning. ...read more |
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| May a covered entity dispose of protected health information in dumpsters accessible by the public? For example, depending on the circumstances, proper disposal methods may include (but are not limited to): Shredding or otherwise destroying PHI in paper records so that the PHI is rendered essentially unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise cannot be reconstructed prior to it being placed in a dumpster or other trash receptacle.Maintaining PHI for disposal in a secure area and using a disposal vendor as a business associate to pick up and shred or otherwise destroy the PHI.In justifiable cases, based on the size and the ...read more |
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