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Health Law

Health Care Law Blog

Comments and Thoughts on Health Care Legal Issues, HIPAA Privacy & Security, Technology and Other Legal Odds and Ends that Impact West Virginia.
By Bob Coffield

Post Frequency: 2.4/day

Last Entry: April 27, 2020 at 10:14:36

AHLA: EHR, HIE and PHR Legal Liability Task Force

Posted on November 20, 2009
Today I participated in the first call of the American Health Lawyers Association's Task Force on Electronic Health Records and Legal Liability.The task force will focus its efforts on the legal liabilities associated with Electronic Health Records (EHR), Health Information Exchanges (HIE) and Personal Health Records (PHR)...

A 1930 Medical Record

Posted on November 20, 2009
I was recently in my hometown of New Martinsville visiting my dad, a retired family physician. When I arrived he had waiting for me a copy of one of my grandfather's medical records from the 1930s. My grandfather, Dr. Albert Coffield, practiced rural medicine in Wetzel County, West Virginia from 1911 until his death in 1936...

Visualizing HR 3962: Affordable Health Care for America Act

Posted on November 09, 2009
Below is a visual of the top 500 words used in HR 3962: Affordable Health Care for America Act. Since most people (including many of our representatives in Washington) haven't read all 1,990 pages of the Health Care Reform Bill, I thought a visual aid might be helpful...

Federal Advisory Committee Blog (FACA Blog)

Posted on November 03, 2009
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) has launched a new blog called the Federal Advisory Committee Blog (FACA Blog).The initial post by Judy Sparrow discusses that the FACA Blog will be uses in a spirit of transparency and collaboration to help open a broader dialogue on the issues before the Health IT Standards Committee and the Health IT Policy Committee...

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West Virginia H1N1 (Swine) Flu Resource Center

Posted on November 03, 2009
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) unveiled a website for sharing information and updates specific to West Virginia about the H1N1 Flu also known as Swine Flu. The website has information for prevention, schools, businesses, parents and providers...

HIPAA Enforcement Meets HITECH: HIPAA Administrative Simplification: Enforcement Rule

Posted on November 02, 2009
On October 30, 2009, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the HIPAA Administrative Simplification: Enforcement Interim Final Rule, 45 CFR Part 160 (74 Federal Register 56123, October 30, 2009).This new rule was developed and adopted by HHS to conform the enforcement regulations under HIPAA to the revisions made to HIPAA under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)...

Congressional Members Concerned About HHS Inclusion of "Harm Standard" In Breach Notification Rule

Posted on October 05, 2009
Members of the U.S. House of Representative submitted an October 1, 2009 letter of concern to Secretary Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) concerning inclusion of a "harm standard" in the recently released(August 24, 2009) Interim Final Rule - Breach Notification for Unsecured Protected Health Information (45 CFR Part 160 and 164) 74 Fed...

ARRA - HITECH: Health Care Information Breach Notification Regulations Now In Effect

Posted on October 05, 2009
Have you had a health data security breach? Do you know what a health data breach is? Are you required to notify individuals impacted by the breach? Do you have to notify federal agencies of such breach?Read on for more information regarding the Office for Civil Right (OCR) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations requiring health care providers and other health data business vendors to assess and in some cases notify and report health information data breaches under the new federal law created by ARRA-HITECH...

Create WV Conference 2009: A personal invitation to attend . . .

Posted on September 22, 2009
Over the last few years I have been involved in Create West Virginia, an organization affiliated with Vision Shared whose mission to create and stimulate new economy growth and empower West Virginians to grow creative communities in West Virginia. Communities centered on innovation, technology, entrepreneurship, education, quality of life and arts/culture...

West Virginia's Statewide Health Information Technology Strategic Plan

Posted on September 10, 2009
Over the past several months I have been involved with a group in developing West Virginia's statewide strategic plan for health information technology.The final draft of the West Virginia Health Information Technology Statewide Strategic Plan, September 2009 is now available for review and comment...

Mandatory Reading Before President Obama's Speech Tonight On Health Care

Posted on September 09, 2009
This morning I finally got around to reading the article by David Goldhill, CEO of the Game Show Network, in the Atlantic. How American Health Care Killed My Father is a thought provoking look at the failure of our current health care system.On the eve of President Obama's speech to Congress on health care I hope he and his advisors have taken time to read the article...

OCR Designates HIPAA Regional Office Privacy Advisors

Posted on August 20, 2009
The Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director for the Office for Civil Rights, Robinsue Frohboese, has designated Office for Civil Rights Regional Managers in each of the HHS Regional Offices to serve as the Regional Office Privacy Advisors. On July 27, 2009, Secretary Sebelius authorized the Director of the Office for Civil Rights to carry out the designation required under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act (Title XIII of Division A and Title IV of Division B of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)...

Health Care Reform Explained from Back of the Napkin Blog

Posted on August 16, 2009
Dan Roam at the Back of the Napkin Blog sums up the current health care reform effort in this four part health care series, Healthcare Napkins All. Great back of the napkin summary of health reform (actually insurance reform).Thanks to Jay Parkinson MD for the tip...

State Medicaid Fraud Control Units Annual Report FY 2008

Posted on August 10, 2009
The DHHS Office of Inspector General has issued the Fiscal Year 2008 State Medicaid Fraud Control Units Annual Report. The report covers FY 2008 (October 1, 2007 - September 30, 2008.The summary of the report provides background on the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) grant program, the number of states participating, the amounts recovered and number of convictions obtained in FY 2008:During this reporting period, 49 States and the District of Columbia participated in the Medicaid fraud control grant program through their established MFCUs...

Viral Health Effort Via Twitter: Fit West Virginia (#FitWV)

Posted on August 08, 2009
Dawn Miller of the Charleston Gazette highlights the ongoing Fit West Virginia (#FitWV) effort ongoing via Twitter in her op-ed piece, West Virginians try to tip scales on obesity.The idea was born back on West Virginia Day as a result of Jason Keeling asking his blog readers to discuss solutions to West Virginia's problems in a post, West Virginia: Using Social Media for the Mountain State's Betterment...

AHLA Public Interest Committee Publishes Stark Law White Paper

Posted on August 07, 2009
The American Health Lawyers Association's Public Interest Committee recently published a new white paper on on the federal self-referral law also known as the "Stark Law" which looks at and considers what, if any, changes to the Stark Law might be beneficial under the current health care system and the proposed reform efforts...

HIPAA Security Rule Enforcement Delegated to OCR

Posted on August 03, 2009
Today HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that enforcement of the Security Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) will be delegated to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR).The official delegation occurred on July 27, 2009...

WV Medicaid Redesign Program: New Report Examines The Mountain Health Choices Program

Posted on July 31, 2009
A new report prepared by West Virginia University researchers examines the the Mountain Health Choices Program, one of the two redesigned West Virginia Medicaid plans to target improving the long-term health of West Virginia Medicaid beneficiaries through engaging beneficiaries to become more involved in their health care...

Technology: Then and Now

Posted on July 26, 2009
The discussion about health care reform has been front and center lately. Along with the debate comes the discussion and questions about the role technology will (should) play in the reform efforts. I was reminded of a photo I found a few months ago while I was home visiting my dad and looking through some old photo albums with him...

West Virginia Health Care Authority Revises Fee Schedule for Certificate of Need Program

Posted on July 21, 2009
On July 15, 2009, the West Virginia Health Care Authority filed with the West Virginia Secretary of State proposed amendments to the its procedural rule regarding the schedule of fees for the filing of certificate of need applications and exemption requests under the West Virginia Certificate of Need Program...

TWiL Episode 26: Health Care and VRM

Posted on July 09, 2009
Tomorrow I have the pleasure of being a guest on This Week in Law (TWiL) hosted by Denise Howell (@dhowell) Denise is one of the pioneers of law bloggers (blawgers) who blogs over at Bag and Baggage.TWiL Episode 26 will focus on Health Care, Technology and VRM...

WV Northern District Court: Attorney Filing Manual

Posted on July 08, 2009
Brian Peterson highlights a great resource for lawyers who regularly practice in the United States District Court for the Northern District Court of West Virginia.The Attorney Filing Manual is a 20 page manual that provides guidance to lawyers on how to e-file certain types of documents wth the Court...

AHLA Annual Meeting 2009: PHRs, Health 2.0 and the Impact of Social Media on Health Care

Posted on July 01, 2009
Today I am giving a presentation with Jud DeLoss on the topic of "PHRs, Health 2.0 and the Impact of Social Media on Health Care" at the American Health Lawyers Association 2009 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.As a part of the presentation we are sharing the slides from the presentation with the attendees via SlideShare...

Support the Declaration of Health Data Rights: #MyHealthData

Posted on June 26, 2009
The Declaration of Health Data Rights collaborative effort was announced this week by setting forth a simple, straightforward framework for health consumers right to their personal health information.The social media driven initiative has grown support throughout the week...

Proposed Certificate of Need Rule: Hospital Ambulatory Health Care Facility

Posted on June 21, 2009
On June 8, 2009, the West Virginia Health Care Authority filed a proposed legislative rule with the Secretary of State and Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee titled Hospital Ambulatory Health Care Facilities. CSR 65-27. The official notice can be found in the June 12, 2009 issue of the West Virginia Register...

West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board Issues Legal Ethics Opinion on Metadata

Posted on June 16, 2009
On June 10, 2009, the West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board issued Legal Ethics Opinion 2009-01 (What is Metadata and Why Should Lawyers Be Cautious?) to raise awareness among lawyers to be cautious when dealing with metadata. The opinion describes "metadata" as the data behind the data - including the location where the document is created, opened or saved, author's identity, number of revisions, comments and redlining...

Microsoft HealthVault: You put your right HIPAA in . . .

Posted on June 03, 2009
In a post today, Sean Nolan, Chief Architect of Microsoft Health Solutions and blogger at Family Health Guy explains Microsoft's position regarding whether Microsoft HealthVault is required to comply with the privacy standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)...

PHRs, The Model T, Meaningful Use and the Patient-Centric HIT Revolution

Posted on June 01, 2009
There is a growing discussion on the health consumer-centric (patient-centric) meaning of "meaningful use" of EHRs and health information technology. Jane Sarasohn-Kahn summarizes this discussion in her recent post, "Meaningful USe - or, whose health is it, anyway?" at Health Populi where she reflects on Ted Eytan's post, "Is it Meaningful If Patients Can't Use It?"Since Ted's post other health care thought leaders have offered their comments...

NCVHS: Report of Hearing on "Meaninful Use" of Health Information Technology

Posted on May 28, 2009
The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) has issued its initial Report of Hearing on "Meaningful Use" of Health Information Technology.The May 18,2009 report is directed to David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator of Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology...

Ted Eytan, MD's Photo Friday

Posted on May 28, 2009
Thanks to Ted Eytan, MD for featuring Jane Sarasohn-Kahn and me as the "Photo Friday" models of the week. The photo was taken at the start of our testimony before NCVHS on the future of PHRs.

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