The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 prohibits providers from prescribing or dispensing controlled substances in the absence of a valid in-person encounter, with limited exceptions. One such exception permits a practitioner who has obtained "special registration" to prescribe a controlled substance for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of professional practice as a result of a telemedicine encounter that permits the prescriber to obtain...

Virginia-based Sentara Hospitals has agreed to a $2.175 million settlement with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OCR) for alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) on behalf of its ten hospitals. On April 17, 2017, the OCR received a complaint alleging that an incorrect hospital bill, containing another patient's Protected Health Information (PHI), was mailed to a...

On November 20, 2019, The Assistance Fund (TAF) agreed to pay a $4 million settlement and enter a three-year integrity agreement, to resolve allegations of False Claims Act violations related to paying impermissible kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries. This represents the third settlement involving a patient assistance fund in the past month, indicating a trend in enforcement action. TAF operated assistance programs to assist patients, including Medicare beneficiaries, with co-payment, co-insurance,...

Last week, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) imposed a $1.6 million civil money penalty against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), a state agency, after a 2015 breach notification report revealed a security vulnerability on the HHSC web-facing application for its Community Living Assistance and Support Services and Deaf Blind with Multiple Disabilities program. When transferring the internal application...

Two non-profit corporations organized for the purpose of establishing and administering patient assistance programs have agreed to pay $2 million and $4 million respectively to settle allegations of assisting pharmaceutical manufacturers to pay improper kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries. Chronic Disease Fund, Inc. (CDF) and Patient Access Network Foundation (PANF) obtained payments from manufacturers to operate patient assistance funds that assisted Medicare beneficiaries with copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles for prescription drugs....