Life is hectic, we know, so here’s a recap of the Healthcare Weekly Hot Topics you can’t afford to miss:
- Sentara Hospital Agrees to $2.2 Million HIPAA Settlement. Becker’s Hospital Review. December 2, 2019.
Sentara Hospital was fined for incorrectly reporting the HIPAA breach. It reported that eight patients had been affected in a data breach. Sentara said that it had improperly sent a bill to a patient containing another patient’s protected health information. The OCR determined that Sentara had mailed 577 patients’ information to wrong addresses.
2) Hospital Groups File Lawsuit to Block Trump’s Transparency Rule. Becker’s Hospital Review. December 2, 2019.
The plaintiffs, including the nonprofit American Hospital Association (AHA), are looking to block the rule issued last month that mandates hospitals to publish pricing information of their services on the internet.
3) US Regions Hit Hard by Opioids To Ditch Class Action and Pursue Own Law Suits. Reuters. December 3, 2019.
98% of some 34,000 local governments agreed to be bound by a class action against companies such as drug distributor McKesson Corp, drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. However, the 541 local governments opted out.
4) 16 Cyber-security Incidents in November. Becker’s Hospital Review. November 27, 2019.
Numerous privacy incidents at hospitals, IT suppliers and other healthcare organizations captured public attention last month. While some security incidents only affected less than 1 percent of membership populations, others were said to have affected more than 40,000.
5) Texas Sues HHS to reverse $25 Million in Medicaid Repayments. Becker’s Hospital. December 5, 2019.
The state agency that administers Medicaid to Texans filed a lawsuit to keep tens of millions of dollars in payments the federal government argues it is owed.
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