Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On September 15, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published an updated version of the two agencies’ joint publication, entitled “Collecting, Using, or Sharing Consumer Health Information? Look to HIPAA, the FTC Act, and the Health Breach Notification Rule.” 

On September 13, 2023, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) and the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released version 3.4 of the Security Risk Assessment (“SRA”) Tool under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) Security Rule.

On April 12, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) to modify protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) to strengthen reproductive health care privacy.

On February 10, 2023, an Illinois federal district court ordered the dismissal of a putative class action lawsuit alleging that an online tool that allowed users to virtually try on sunglasses violated the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (“BIPA”).

On December 1, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) released a Bulletin on the obligations of HIPAA covered entities and business associates under the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules when using online tracking technologies. 

Following the ruling in Dobbs, the National Institutes of Health’s (“NIH’s”) certificates of confidentiality offer an important layer of privacy protection to reproductive health research data. The Public Health Service Act created the certificates of confidentiality program, which prohibits the disclosure of identifiable, sensitive research data “in any Federal, State, or local civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceeding” without the research subject’s consent. These certificates add a layer of protection to abortion and fertility data collected as part of NIH research.

On June 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued two guidance documents to “help protect patients seeking reproductive health care, as well as their providers” following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. These guidance documents address the legal protections for individuals’ protected health information (“PHI”) relating to abortion and other reproductive health care, as well as how individuals can protect their medical information on personal devices, menstruation tracking apps and other health-related apps.