Dorsey Health Law Blog

Iowa Governor Signs Legislation Impacting Iowa’s Long-Term-Care Industry

On June 1, 2023, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law Iowa bill HF 685, which will significantly impact the future of Iowa’s long-term-care industry. Among other provisions, HF 685 increases scrutiny imposed on parties who seek to acquire an Iowa nursing facility, imposes a temporary moratorium on adding new nursing facility beds in the...

Minnesota Attorney General Notification of Health Care Transactions

On May 26, 2023, the Governor of Minnesota signed into law Minnesota bill HF 402 to increase government oversight of health care transactions that occur in Minnesota or involve Minnesota-based health care entities. Minnesota joins a growing number of states considering or enacting similar measures, including New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon,...

Broad New Washington Privacy Law Requires Immediate Compliance Action

The Dorsey Health Law blog team keeps readers up-to-date on relevant topics in the health care industry. In order to do so, the members of the blog team communicate regularly with other practice groups within the firm for applicable updates from client publications. For this post, we would like to thank Dorsey’s Ross D’Emanuele, Jamie...

HHS OCR Settles HIPAA Investigation with Business Associate for $350,000

Over the past decade, the number of health care data breaches reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) has increased dramatically. From 2009 to 2022, over 5,000 data breaches affecting 500 or more records were reported to OCR, accounting for the exposure of over 380 million health...

HHS and FDA Take Additional Measures to Aid Post-PHE Transition for Pharmacy Providers

For the last three years, the federal government has taken considerable steps to aid providers in the fight against COVID-19. Although many of the waivers and flexibilities initiated in response to the pandemic have since expired or are in the process of being phased out, other federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human...

Tracking Online User Activity: HIPAA and Other Legal Risks

The use of tracking technologies on websites and mobile applications (e.g., cookies) has become largely ubiquitous in our technology-driven world. Health care providers and organizations, for example, may use tracking technologies to identify their patients’ care needs and improve patient experience. As the use of tracking technologies burgeons, so do concerns from individuals about how...

FTC Takes First Enforcement Action for Violation of the Health Breach Notification Rule – A Federal Health Privacy Rule Beyond HIPAA

On February 1, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that digital health platform GoodRx violated the FTC Act by repeatedly sharing personal health information with advertising companies and platforms, such as Facebook and Google, and failed to report the unauthorized...

Recent DOJ Settlements Involving DME Manufacturers Highlight Important Anti-Kickback Considerations

The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently announced two settlement agreements, both involving durable medical equipment (“DME”) companies, following allegations that the companies had violated the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”). The AKS, found at 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b, prohibits the exchange of anything of value (i.e., remuneration) with any intent to induce referrals for services or products...