As explained in a recent post published on Squire Patton Bogg’s Anticorruption Blog, the DOJ is pursuing providers who submit false claims under the electronic health records initiative. This enforcement action should serve as a reminder to examine carefully attestations of EHR compliance, including the requirement to complete a HIPAA-required security risk assessment.… Continue Reading
Last year, the California legislature enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), which imposes key data privacy requirements on businesses collecting or storing data about California residents. The CCPA provides for civil penalties imposed by the California Attorney General (“AG”) and creates a private right of action for those residents impacted by a data … Continue Reading
Effective January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will impose burdensome GDPR-like transparency and individual rights requirements on almost every company that handles “personal information” regarding California residents, regardless of where the business is based. The Act will impact information regarding not only consumers, but also employees and business contacts. Join us for … Continue Reading
From the continual evolution of the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) to the potential ramifications of a Brexit “no-deal” on data transfers, 2019 may be a defining point in data privacy and cybersecurity. Nowhere is this increased attention more pronounced than the growing support for US federal data privacy legislation. … Continue Reading
The Illinois Supreme Court’s recent broad interpretation of the pioneering Illinois Biometric Identity Protection Act justifies close attention to legislative and regulatory developments regarding collection and protection of biometric identifier data. Our previous report of this decision may be found here. Two other states, Texas and Washington, already have biometric identifier privacy laws in place, … Continue Reading
On January 25, 2019, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that a consumer need not demonstrate an adverse effect or specific harm, such as evidence that personal information was stolen or misused, to have standing to sue under the state’s Biometric Identity Protection Act (BIPA). The court held that a procedural violation of the law itself … Continue Reading
Cybersecurity awareness recently took center stage in the healthcare industry when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued comprehensive risk-prioritized cybersecurity best practices to combat top threats. HHS mapped this guidance to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, cross-referencing 88 individual sub-practices for healthcare organizations of all sizes. The … Continue Reading
Google recently defeated claims that it violated Illinois’s Biometric Identification Privacy Act (“BIPA”) by collecting and retaining facial scans created from photographs uploaded by Google Photos users without obtaining consent and complying with other statutory requirements. The federal court ultimately held that plaintiffs failed to allege a concrete injury sufficient for Article III standing. Finding … Continue Reading
In Illinois, the courts are grappling with an issue akin to the Article 3 standing issues that courts have been analyzing in post-breach cases for years, that is, whether a plaintiff must claim actual harm as a result of a statutory violation or whether the violation is sufficient by itself to support standing to sue.… Continue Reading
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently issued several cybersecurity and medical device initiatives as part of the agency’s increased focus on digital health. These initiatives include draft cybersecurity guidance for medical devices, increased coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, and the promotion of artificial intelligence. Elliot Golding and Jennifer Tharp provided an … Continue Reading
Amendments to California’s expansive Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“the Act”) include new provisions that may significantly impact the timing of enforcement and provide exemptions for large amounts of personal data regulated by other laws. The Act, signed into law in June, is a sweeping data privacy law that regulates the processing of personal data … Continue Reading
Personal location information held by a third party now receives heightened protection from disclosure to law enforcement Thanks to Timothy Ivory Carpenter, Cell Site Location Information (“CSLI”) is now part of our vernacular. More important, in light of the Supreme Court’s June 2018 ruling in Carpenter v. United States, a company’s collection and retention of … Continue Reading
California’s newly enacted Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 is the strictest of the US’s patchwork of privacy related regulations. The Act will impact any legal entity that (i) does business in California, (ii) is operated for the profit or financial benefit of its owners, (iii) collects consumers’ personal information and determines the purpose and means … Continue Reading
In an article posted in Law360 Expert Analysis on May 22, 2018, Squire Patton Boggs partner Elliot Golding describes how the rise of health care smart devices and tracking apps has intensified the focus on data privacy and cybersecurity within the health care industry. Subsequently, new and proposed government and regulatory initiatives are underway. Additional … Continue Reading
Elliot Golding, in a podcast interview with Healthcare InfoSecurity, discusses progressing healthcare privacy and security issues, especially complex issues involving Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Topic points include, new risks when connected devices link to legacy systems, the applicable regulatory environment, and other important issues companies operating in the health care space need to confront … Continue Reading
In a first of its kind, the SEC recently fined Yahoo US$35 million for failing to assess and disclose a 2014 data breach that affected over 500 million user accounts. What caused the SEC to charge Yahoo with cybersecurity-related disclosure violations? Our colleagues Tara Swaminatha and Coates Lear have prepared an analysis of this enforcement action, including … Continue Reading
With no central federal data breach law, states have taken the reins, passing an increasing number of laws that require both the protection of citizens’ private data and prompt notice of any breach of that privacy. Governors in the last two holdout states, South Dakota and Alabama, recently signed bills to enact laws governing data … Continue Reading
Overview of Recent Settlement Actions Recent Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) enforcement settlements for Virtual Medical Group (“VMG”) in New Jersey and EmblemHealth in New York may signal a broader trend of increased state HIPAA enforcement. Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act’s amendment to HIPAA, codified at … Continue Reading
In a Joint Statement issued this week, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (“FFIEC”) – which comprises the principals of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and State Liaison Committee – cautioned the … Continue Reading
Our March 22, 2018 our readers were directed to a post published on our sister Anticorruption Blog which discussed the at the time proposed The CLOUD Act. The act was signed into law as part of the Omnibus Spending Bill on March 23, 2018. In Part 2 of her article, Ericka Johnson focuses on The … Continue Reading
In Part 1 of an upcoming series of posts on our sister Anticorruption Blog, DC-based associate Ericka Johnson explores the recently proposed CLOUD Act and the increasing gap between technology and the law. Of special interest to our readers, The CLOUD Act updates standards for when governments may be able to obtain information stored outside … Continue Reading
On February 27, 2018 the Supreme Court heard arguments surrounding the privacy of data stored abroad and the reach of U.S. search warrants to retrieve such data. While the Supreme Court decides the merits of United States v. Microsoft, Congress will debate on overhauling the Stored Communications Act (“SCA”) to reflect technological advances that were … Continue Reading
The HHS Office of Civil Rights announced earlier this month that a court appointed receiver for Illinois moving and storage company, Filefax, has entered into a resolution agreement and corrective action plan to settle alleged violations of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. The receiver for Filefax, which went out of business during OCR’s investigation, … Continue Reading
Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued two helpful new HIPAA guidance documents regarding research uses and disclosures of PHI, fulfilling a mandate in the 21st Century Cures Act (Public Law 114-255) (the “Act”). Although the documents merely reaffirm prior guidance in many places, the documents also … Continue Reading
