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Physician Law Blog

We provide insights and analysis for physicians, nurses, chiropractors, dentists, physical therapists and other health professionals on issues impacting their practices.

Physician Law Blog
March 20, 2020

Telehealth Expanded and HIPAA Requirements Waived

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), The Health and Human Services Department (HHS), as well as other health related federal agencies, have continued to waive requirements, or expand services and benefits in an effort to help contain the COVID-19 virus.

Physician Law Blog
March 19, 2020

Healthcare Providers Can Cross State Lines During COVID-19

With the increasing strain on healthcare provider needs, the Department of Health and Human services announced on March 18th that as long as a healthcare provider holds an equivalent license from another state and are not affirmatively barred from practice in that state or any state that is included in the emergency area, they can provide care in any state.  This allows personnel and supplies to travel to where they are needed most to fight this epidemic.

Physician Law Blog
April 23, 2014

HIPAA Update - OCR Takes Unencrypted Laptops Seriously

OCR issued an update regarding two important HIPAA settlements involving theft of unencrypted laptops. The first involved Concentra Health Systems report of a breach that an unencrypted laptop was stolen from the Springfield Missouri Physical Therapy Center. After concluding that Concentra had previously recognized its lack of encryption in multiple risk analyses, its efforts to protect patient PHI remained vulnerable due to incomplete and inconsistent encryption. As a result, Concentra agreed to pay OCR $1,725,220 to settle the violations and will be implementing a corrective action plan to remediate the findings.