The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to " help ensure that employees are, in fact, free to participate in safety and health activities," has created a dedicated Web site entitled Whistleblower.gov.
While those who wish to file complaints of retaliation for whistleblower acts must still do so in writing, the site provides detailed information and instructions [...]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this morning (July 8, 2010) held a press conference to announce a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NRPM) concerning the privacy, security and enforcement provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996.
The proposed modifications would extend parts of the HIPAA Privacy Rule and [...]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on June 28 published a Final Rule in the Federal Register implementing provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The provisions were dubbed "The Patient’s Bill of Rights" by the agency.
This Final Rule takes effect Sept. 23, but it breaks little ground from the sweeping [...]
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is tasked with monitoring breaches of private health information (PHI) records, reports that, since implementation of the breach rule earlier this year, the total reported through June 4, 2010, stands at 93, and this is just for breaches affecting 500 or more records.
The others with fewer than 500 [...]
Those individuals and public interest groups who favored the single-payer health care option–i.e., "Medicare for All" in one form or another–should be heartened by recent legislation passed in the Vermont legislature that became law without the governor’s signature.
The Universal Access to Health Care Act passed into law on May 27 when Governor Jim Douglas, a [...]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), headed by David Michaels, is flexing its muscles all around, increasing fines, adding field inspectors, and now strengthening its whistleblower program by adding 25 agents to the 87 it already has.
In making the announcement, Michaels lamented the high dismissal rate of whistleblower claims (63 percent) and noted that [...]
Beating the deadline of June 21, 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released regulations to commence the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program on June 1 as mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
The program will reimburse employers who provide health insurance for retirees between the ages of 55 and [...]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released rules for the health reform measure that allows parents to keep dependents on their health insurance through age 25, which takes effect Sept. 23.
The rules mandate that pricing for dependents of any age be the same, though it sets no limits on the pricing. Some [...]
There are some cautionary tales and lessons in the strange case of Huping Zhou, 47, who once worked for the UCLA Health System–until he was fired for poor performance–and who now finds himself facing hard time for HIPAA privacy violations.
Here’s where it gets strange for both UCLA and the Chinese surgeon.
First, UCLA gave Zhou advance [...]
The National Restaurant Association saw it as a "devil we know" over a bunch of pending state regulations that were "devils we don’t know," so Obamacare–the recent health care reform package–includes a provision for chain restaurants to post calorie counts and nutritional information for their menu items.
Now, as with other federal laws and regulations, states [...]
