The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has ordered Sentara Hospitals to pay $2.175 million to settle potential HIPAA violations. Sentara Hospitals, which operates more than 300 sites throughout Virginia and North Carolina, was accused of HIPPA violations in April of 2017.

The next big partnership between health and tech has come and it raises questions about health data and the role these partnerships have in protecting patients’ sensitive information. 

It's no secret that the opioid crisis plaguing the nation exhibits no signs of slowing down. It's for that reason that it's important for the general public to be aware of naloxone and how it could save the life of someone experiencing an overdose.

Transitions in the world of healthcare are challenging for providers even under the best of circumstances. Sending a patient home from the hospital is often the culmination of days or weeks of work on patient care that are combined with helping the patient navigate to their next provider and/or setting. Often, just choosing a provider can be one of the more difficult steps to take.

While medical and recreational cannabis is currently illegal in Indiana, it is not difficult to foresee that some Indiana health facility residents, particularly assisted-living residents, will acquire cannabis legally in other states as recreational consumers or as medical recipients authorized in a neighboring state.

Recent polls show widespread support in Indiana for medical marijuana. Legal cannabis sales in the U.S. in 2019 are projected to exceed ten billion dollars. Billions of dollars are being invested in the sector. National law firms have opened cannabis practice groups to meet the myriad regulatory challenges faced by this developing sector. 

Immediate jeopardy "is a situation in which a recipient of care has suffered or is likely to suffer serious injury, harm, impairment or death as a result of a provider's, supplier's or laboratory's noncompliance with one or more health and safety requirement," according to CMS. The citation carries serious sanctions for the cited healthcare organization.

On May 24, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights issued a new fact sheet. It compiles the various provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that impose direct liability on business associates. 

On May 30, 2019, the Indiana Health Coverage Programs released a bulletin stating that it is modifying coverage of crisis intervention, intensive outpatient treatment and peer recovery services for Indiana Medicaid, effective July 1, 2019.

The Indiana General Assembly recently enacted legislation that changes the relationship between physicians and physician assistants from that of a supervisory relationship to one of collaboration. Health care providers should be aware that Bill 1248 affects the form of agreement physicians and PAs must enter into, physician chart review and a PAs ability to prescribe drugs.