Six Current Data Privacy Challenges
Healthcare and privacy attorney Shannon Hartsfield co-authored for the American Bar Association's Health Law Section an article detailing six areas of focus that should factor into a healthcare or life science entity's compliance program. Ms. Hartsfield goes over a number of developments from 2024, from the Change Healthcare cyberattack to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) updates to Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Patient Records (Part 2) regulations to plaintiff class actions regarding Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy and security, that pose challenges for the industry and create new compliance obligations for providers. The article also reviews the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in patient care, federal regulatory changes from HHS and its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), state consumer privacy laws, litigation and enforcement trends surrounding protected health information (PHI), especially cases involving website tracking tools, along with updates to global data protection regimes.