New scheme seems to use deceptive phone line to get personal information

The phone number of a hotline being utilized by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services apparently is being used by scammers to get personal information from people who consider they are talking to OIG staff. New scheme seems to use deceptive phone line to get personal information.

The OIG hotline accepts tips and complaints about potential scam and mismanagement including HHS programs, which OIG inquires.

Although, HHS now is warning clients that scammers are altering the numbers that appear on caller ID devices; when the criminals call, devices display the HHS hotline phone number (1-800-HHS-TIPS). Victims who receive the calls are at risk for offering the scammers personal information that can be used to raid a bank account or perform other fraudulent activity.

New scheme seems to use deceptive phone line to get personal information.

The OIG affirms that it doesn’t use the hotline number to make outgoing calls; the organization is advising consumers not to answer phone calls that purportedly come from HHS. The agency further is asserting that it remains safe to call the hotline to report fraud or mismanagement, and it specifically motivates those who might have been victimized by the phone call hoax to contact the agency by straightly calling the hotline.

The agency counsels consumers to not provide data over the phone to a person posing as from HHS, like Social Security numbers, dates of birth, credit card numbers, driver license numbers, bank account numbers or mother’s maiden names.

When calling HHS to report fraud, involve date and time you got the phone call and details about the call. People also can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

 

ONC provides challenge to establish latest HIPAA privacy notice

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has inaugurated a challenge for software developers, health data privacy professionals and other stakeholders to update and modify the voluntary Model HIPAA Privacy Notice to be more applicable in today’s mobile health atmosphere.

“The health information technology market has changed significantly in the past 5 years, and there is now a larger variety of products, like mobile applications and wearable devices, that gather digital health information,” ONC elaborates.

Some $35,000 in prizes will be granted in the challenge to establish new HIPAA privacy notice; entries should be submitted to the Challenge.gov website by the day of April 10.

ONC needs participants to utilize content from the existing Model Privacy Notice template “to establish an online tool that can produce a user-friendly snapshot of a product’s privacy practices,” in accordance to ONC. The content will assist developers to create a HIPAA privacy notice that is more convenient to understand.

The current model privacy notice dates back to the year of 2011. It was established in concert with the Federal Trade Commission and focused on personal health records, which were an emerging technology at the time period.

For the latest notice, ONC in the month of March 2016 asked stakeholders for ideas on privacy and security practices that should be on the new notice and how to explain the practices. These comments should assist to inform developers in the new project, ONC stated. Further information is available here.

 

ONC attempts to seek out way to balance HIPAA protection

Confusion growingly encircles the privacy and security of electronic health data collected, shared and utilized by entities not covered by HIPAA, and eradicating that uncertainty sustains to be a work in progress, claims Lucia Savage, chief privacy officer in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

Although, there is no convenient solution to the dilemmas posed by a latest report on the disparity in information protection regarded to HIPAA, which raised problems for legislators to consider but did not detail possible solutions.

Speaking at previous week’s joint meeting of the Health IT Policy and Standards committees, Savage analyzed that consumers, in specific, falsely assume that HIPAA secures their health information when the law, in fact, might not.

“The protection of HIPAA doesn’t implement to entire health data everywhere it is gathered, accessed, used or stored,” she informed the committees. “Customers do not actually comprehend that the boundaries of HIPAA end with few forms of economic activity.”

Previous month, ONC declared that it sent a report to Congress drawing attention to a deficiency of clear guidance relating to the HIPAA-regulated entities and those not regulated by HIPAA. Savage commented that the deficiency of clear rules in this section also impedes innovation. Particularly, the report of ONC concentrates on mobile health technologies and health social media that are outside the scope of HIPAA.

In accordance to Savage, HIPAA is implemented by the Office for Civil Rights and state attorneys general to give nationwide privacy, security and violation notifications for health information accessed, utilized, revealed or held by covered entities and their business associates.

Although, she disclosed that non-covered entities (NCEs) are technologies handled by vendors that accumulate electronic heath data about people but aren’t considered “covered entities” or “business associates” under HIPAA.

These technologies involve:

• Mobile health technology, like entities that give direct-to-consumer mHealth apps, remote health monitoring tools or wearable health-tracking devices.


• Personal health records not hosted by covered entities.

• Health social media, involving social networking websites for health intentions, which may be approached on computers or smartphones and other mobile devices.

Savage noticed that NCEs aren’t needed by law to adhere to minimum security practices, while HIPAA describes minimum security standards. Additionally, she claimed that NCEs aren’t needed by law to offer customers access to their health information, or to send it (reveal it) as customers wish, while HIPAA guarantees this right.

“Within HIPAA, people have a right to access the information about themselves in a way that has meaning to them, and to require said information be sent to the place they select—that isn’t true for non-covered entities,” in accordance to Savage.

ONC’s report to Congress mentioned these gaps in policies around access, security and privacy that exist between HIPAA-regulated and non-regulated entities when it comes to electronic health data. To deal the issue, ONC suggested filling those gaps in a way that secures consumers “while leveling the playing field for innovators inside and outside of HIPAA.”

Nevertheless, as Health IT Policy Committee co-chair Paul Tang, MD, pointed out to Savage, the agency’s report doesn’t give particular recommendations on how to fill those gaps.

“The report is there to assist facilitate discussion,” stated Savage. “The content of the report is final and doesn’t consist of suggestions for legislation, task forces by ONC, regulatory revisions by OCR or a specific activity of the Federal Trade Commission.”

 

Not all Chicago insurer frightens a united Advocate-NorthShore

Not every Chicago-area insurers oppose a potential merger between Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem, in accordance to testimony Monday in the Federal Trade Commission's case against the proposed deal.

UnitedHealthcare supports the potential tie-up, stated Joanne Beck, vice president of network management for its parent company, UnitedHealth Group. United considers the merger will lower the cost of care by expanding Advocate's population health management program and the quality measures it has applied, Beck stated during testimony in U.S District Court in the state of Chicago. The FTC is seeking a preliminary injunction to block the deal pending the result of its administrative challenge.

United plays a distant 2^nd place in the Chicago place to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. United has about 15 percent to 16 percent of the market and Blue Cross has about 65 percent to 70 percent, Beck claimed.

IBM's Latest Healthcare Acquisition May Not Happen

Summary

• Regulators, courts and privacy advocates should take a close glance at the intended IBM purchase of Truven because it consolidates the greatest repository of healthcare data anywhere.


• How the information will be utilized and safeguarded from cyber breaches is a primary question.


• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the day of March 1 against Vermont's gathering of data from insurance policies.


• IBM may be making an oligopoly of healthcare data that will inhibit competition.

Investors should temper their enthusiasm about IBM's deal to achieve Truven Health Analytics until regulatory approvals are secured. IBM is no stranger to antitrust laws, which are meant to stop the consolidation of firms into oligopolies. While antitrust regulators have not vigorously enforced these laws during recent administrations, IBM's acquisition of Truven merits a close look not merely by regulators at the Federal Trade Commission, but also by courts and privacy advocates concerned with the security of healthcare data.

Report connects health care mergers and higher charges

Since the year 2009, the number of oncology practices linked with hospitals has doubled. And a latest report says that has driven costs up by 30% in places where there have been such tie-ups.

“This kind of consolidation increases spending,” claimed the University of Chicago’s Rena Conti, the author of the new report. “We don’t know whether this increased spending is actually going to translate into better quality or better access for cancer sufferers.”

For years, hospitals have discussed these deals could make better coordination, mitigate duplication and eradicate waste, lowering spending overall.

But this paper adds to a increasing body of literature that healthcare mergers are a critical concern.

Wharton’s Robert Town predicts if this keeps up, regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice will crack down.

“You are going to observe a meaningful affect on anti-trust policy,” Town claimed. “The FTC and DOJ are going to be less favorably disposed to these kinds of mergers.”