Secretary Azar Praises New Drug Industry Steps on Transparency

08. February 2019 EHR, EMR, Health, HIPAA 0
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar released the following statement on Johnson & Johnson’s decision to include the list price of its drugs in television advertisements: “President Trump has put forth a plan for bringing unprecedented transparency and competition to the prescription drug market, which includes requiring the disclosure of list prices in television ads. ...

OCR Concludes All-Time Record Year for HIPAA Enforcement with $3 Million Cottage Health Settlement

08. February 2019 EHR, EMR, Health, HIPAA 0
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services concluded an all-time record year in Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) enforcement activity.  In 2018, OCR settled 10 cases and was granted summary judgment in a case before an Administrative Law Judge, together totaling $28.7 million from enforcement ...

HHS Secretary Azar Praises President Trump’s Vision for Healthcare

06. February 2019 EHR, EMR, Health, HIPAA 0
HHS Secretary Alex Azar issued the following statement regarding the President’s State of the Union address: “Americans heard tonight how serious President Trump is about improving the quality and affordability of healthcare. In addition to maintaining a strong commitment to confronting the opioid epidemic and proposing a new dedicated initiative to tackle childhood cancer, the ...

Trump Administration Proposes to Lower Drug Costs by Targeting Backdoor Rebates and Encouraging Direct Discounts to Patients

01. February 2019 EHR, EMR, Health, HIPAA 0
On Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Inspector General Daniel Levinson proposed a rule to lower prescription drug prices and out-of-pocket costs by encouraging manufacturers to pass discounts directly on to patients and bringing new transparency to prescription drug markets. “Every day, Americans—particularly our seniors—pay more than they need to for their ...

OCR Finds the State of California Violated Federal Law in Discriminating Against Pregnancy Resource Centers

19. January 2019 EHR, EMR, Health, HIPAA 0
Today the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it found that the State of California violated the federal conscience protection laws known as the Weldon and Coats-Snowe Amendments. This is the first time since the launch of the new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division ...

HHS Is Committed to Protecting Life and Conscience

19. January 2019 EHR, EMR, Health, HIPAA 0
On the occasion of the 2019 March for Life, HHS Secretary Alex Azar released the following statement regarding the Trump administration’s accomplishments in protecting human life: “Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration. At HHS, through our work in healthcare, ...

Pain Management Task Force calls for patient-centered approach to improve treatment of pain

29. December 2018 EHR, EMR, Health, HIPAA 0
The Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force (Task Force), in a draft report issued today, calls for individualized, patient-centered pain management to improve the lives of millions of individuals who experience acute and chronic pain. Members of the public will have 90 days to provide comments on the draft report’s proposed recommendations. The Task ...

HHS, in Partnership with Industry, Releases Voluntary Cybersecurity Practices for the Health Industry

29. December 2018 EHR, EMR, Health, HIPAA 0
On Friday, December 28, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the “Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices (HICP): Managing Threats and Protecting Patients” publication. The four volume publication, aims to provide voluntary cybersecurity practices to healthcare organizations of all types and sizes, ranging from local clinics to large hospital systems. The industry-led effort was ...

Readout of Initial Deputy Secretary’s Innovation and Investment Summit Meeting

21. December 2018 EHR, EMR, Health, HIPAA 0
On December 18, Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan and members of his team at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convened with members of the healthcare industry for the initial Deputy Secretary’s Innovation and Investment Summit (DSIIS) meeting. Leadership from HHS and representatives from various divisions provided Summit participants with educational content on how ...