Earlier this week, OCR officials confirmed to the Information Security Media Group that HIPAA audits are being reinstated. OCR director, Melanie Fontes Rainer stated“OCR intends to initiate audits of HIPAA-regulated entities later this year. These audits can assist regulated entities in improving their HIPAA compliance and their protection of health information.”  This reaffirms the need

More and more states in the U.S. are using Medicaid funds to address the rising homelessness crisis, with at least 19 states investing in initiatives to provide housing for vulnerable populations. California leads with a $12 billion Medicaid initiative aimed at housing homeless patients, while other states like Arizona and Oregon are also dedicating significant

The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform released an article detailing the crisis in Rural maternity Care. Not only do over half of rural US hospitals not offer labor and delivery services, but many more are at risk of no longer providing maternity care. Hospitals and other healthcare organizations still providing this care should

The Medicare Final Rule 2024, released on November 2, 2023, by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), impacts remote physiologic monitoring (RPM) and remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) services reimbursed under Medicare. Key takeaways include RPM exclusivity to established patients, with a reinstated requirement after the Public Health Emergency (PHE). RTM offers flexibility without

California recently announced it will become the first state to allow all undocumented immigrants to be eligible for state healthcare insurance programs. Beginning on January 1, 2024, around 750,000 adults between the ages of 26 and 49 years old will become eligible to receive Medi-Cal benefits. Previously, this coverage was only available to undocumented immigrants

In commemoration of World AIDS day on December 1, HRSA released the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Annual Data Report. This report included Notably, nine out of ten HIV patients are virally suppressed. A patient is considered virally suppressed when they cannot pass HIV via sexual intercourse.  This statistic is particularly important because it reaffirms the

The American Hospital Association (AHA) and allies filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR). In late 2022, OCR  released guidance that prevented the use of online tracking pixels on both websites and mobile apps. This lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of HIPAA guidance regarding online-tracking technologies. Essentially,