Congress returns to work on Capitol Hill this week following a two week break. The FEHBlog had understood that OPM’s Acting Director Margaret Weichert would appear before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on May 1 to provide details on the OPM reorganization. Federal News Network clarifies that
[While] Weichert was supposed to testify before the committee May 1, and OPM was supposed to provide documents subpoenaed by the committee at the same time [* * * ,] [Rep. Gerry] Connolly [D VA] said Weichert postponed until later in the month, and OPM isn’t providing the documents until she testifies.
The Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, which enforces the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, delivered good news to HIPAA regulated entities late Friday afternoon by releasing a notice of enforcement discretion concerning HIPAA’s Civil Penalties. OCR rationalized its enforcement policy by aligning the maximum penalty amount with the culpability tier.
According to Modern Healthcare, “the possible penalties for each tier now look like this:
Tier 1: $100-$50,00 per violation, capped at $25,000 per year the issue persisted
Tier 2: $1,000-$50,000 per violation, capped at $100,000 per year the issue persisted
Tier 3: $10,000-$50,000 per violation, capped at $250,000 per year the issue persisted
Tier 4: $50,000 per violation, capped at $1.5 million per year the issue persisted.”
Previously the maximum penalty was $1.5 million at all culpability tiers.
Healthcare Dive reports that Humana and telehealth provider Doctor on Demand have developed a new virtual primary care program called On Hand. On Hand is integrated with Doctor on Demand’s Synapse platform.
Doctor On Demand’s Synapse platform provides a range of health and wellness services, from preventive health to chronic care, urgent care and behavioral health, all through video visits. The platform also allows patients to access their digital health records and updates, including from connected devices.
Per DocWire News, Doctor on Demand was created in 2012 by Jay McGraw and his father Dr. Phil McGraw, host of TV’s “Dr. Phil.”