HIPAA Blog

[ Friday, September 17, 2021 ]

 

FTC's New Push for Health Data Breach Notification:  Ok, sorry for being so light with the blogging recently, but I've been somewhat busy with other things.  I'm still working on the "20 Chapters" project to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Privacy Rule, and I really will try to finish before year end (and not extend it into next April, which would give myself a full year).  

But anyway: " The U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued a policy statement this week confirming that connected devices and health apps that use or collect consumers' health information must notify users and others when that data is breached.  Failure to comply, the agency said, could result in a penalty of up to $43,792 per violation per day." 

What's getting the FTC's attention is the fact that so many health apps and IOT devices collect so much health information, yet those apps and device makers are not HIPAA-covered entities.  And those apps and devices are exploding in popularity, usage, and ubiquity.  So the FTC is going to start enforcing its 10-year-old (but previously never enforced) data breach notification rule.  They issued a statement to that effect here.  

Wait, the FTC has a health data breach reporting rule?  I never knew that! Anyway, it's here; I'll be reading it over the weekend, and will likely report back on the overlap (and lack of overlap) between it and the HIPAA data breach reporting requirements.  


Jeff [4:55 PM]

Comments: Post a Comment
http://www.blogger.com/template-edit.g?blogID=3380636 Blogger: HIPAA Blog - Edit your Template