Since the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) privacy rules became effective in April 2003, there has been minimal enforcement activity by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”).   However, this has changed dramatically over the last two years, as evidenced by some recent high-profile and high-penalty enforcement actions taken by OCR.  In addition to being concerned about OCR investigations, moreover, covered entities and business associates must also be on the alert for enforcement actions by state Attorney Generals, potential class action lawsuits, and OCR’s HIPAA audit program. Continue reading…

On June 14, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) soliciting comments on a proposal to clarify how Medicare beneficiaries and their representatives can protect Medicare’s interests and satisfy their obligations under the Medicare Secondary Payer (“MSP”) Act when “future medical care” is claimed or the settlement, judgment, award, or other payment releases claims for future medical care. Continue reading…