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In a final rule published on April 26, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) amends the HIPAA Privacy Rule to bolster protections for individuals’ reproductive health information. This final rule comes almost exactly a year after HHS published its draft rule on the subject.

The rule is part of the Biden administration’s effort to address the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Dobbs’ reversal of Roe v. Wade resulted in a patchwork of state laws governing abortion, some of which require or permit health care providers to release personal information about reproductive health care to state authorities for patients who sought an abortion.

The rule is scheduled to take effect on June 25, 2024 and most provisions will be enforceable as of December 23, 2024. Below, we summarize in more detail some of the notable changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Continue Reading HHS Modifies HIPAA Privacy Rule to Shield Reproductive Health Information from Third Party Access

Almost two years after issuing its Interim Final Rule requiring COVID-19 vaccination for certain health care works, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has issued a final rule addressing several regulations regarding COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and education requirements in health care facilities.

In short, the rule eliminates the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for staff at certain categories of Medicare-participating health care providers and ends COVID-19 vaccination testing requirements for staff at long-term care (“LTC”) facilities. Additionally, the rule finalizes previously interim provisions regarding COVID-19 vaccination “educate and offer” requirements for residents, staff, and clients at LTC facilities and Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (“ICFs-IID”).

The rule states that rolling back COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements enacted during the pandemic aligns with the end of Public Health Emergency (“PHE”) on May 11, 2023 and the concomitant reduction in infection rates, decline in deaths, and significant vaccination uptake by the public.Continue Reading CMS Withdraws Health Care Staff Vaccination Requirements

The House Energy and Commerce Committee seems poised to make substantial changes to the Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA’s”) Accelerated Approval Program. The committee’s Democratic chairman, Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Republican ranking member, Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) have proposed competing bills that were featured prominently in the Health Subcommittee’s legislative hearing on March 17, 2022.

The Accelerated Approval Program was developed in 1982, largely in response to the HIV/AIDs epidemic, to expedite approval of novel drugs that treat serious conditions with unmet medical needs based on a surrogate endpoint.  Drugs that receive accelerated approval must undergo post-approval (Phase IV) studies to confirm the intended clinical benefit.  If the clinical testing does not demonstrate the intended clinical benefit, FDA has mechanisms to remove the drug from the market.

However, concerns have mounted regarding FDA’s ability to remove ineffective drugs from the market, and those concerns were punctuated during a February 3, 2022 Health Subcommittee hearing on the reauthorization of FDA User Fees. Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, the Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA testified that the program’s existing mechanism to withdraw accelerated approvals is cumbersome, resource intensive, and seldom used.Continue Reading Competing bills propose amendments to FDA’s accelerated approval program

A substantial shift for genetically engineered (“GE”) food regulation may be on the horizon thanks to a USDA proposed rule with a fast closing comment period, which ends on February 26, 2021. The proposed rule strips FDA’s jurisdiction over food-bearing GE livestock and places it within USDA’s purview, thereby granting USDA jurisdiction over pre-market review

With only one day left before the final rule scaling back nondiscrimination regulations took effect, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) issued an order staying the repeal of certain parts of the former regulations. On June 19, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule scaling back nondiscrimination regulations first released in 2016 to implement Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The 2016 regulations had imposed significant requirements on health care providers to ensure that all individuals were provided “meaningful access” to care. As part of the 2016 regulations, OCR banned discrimination “on the basis of sex,” which was defined broadly as “on the basis of pregnancy, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, or recovery therefrom, childbirth or related medical conditions, sex stereotyping, or gender identity.” The 2020 final rule revised the 2016 regulations significantly, however. In one of its most controversial changes, OCR removed the definition of “on the basis of sex” contending that “on the basis of sex” shall revert to the “plain meaning” of the term “sex” in Title IX of the Civil Rights Act – meaning not to encompass discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. OCR’s decision came on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga. four days prior which concluded that discrimination “on the basis of sex” encompasses claims based on gender identity and sexual orientation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Accordingly, within the course of less than a week, the Supreme Court broadly interpreted the same term that OCR severely limited.

Shortly after OCR announced its reversal of the nondiscrimination requirement based on gender identity and sexual orientation, various interest groups began mounting legal challenges. With the order issued by EDNY on August 17, 2020, we are already seeing evidence of the legal battles likely to ensue over the definition of “on the basis of sex,” placing certain parts of OCR’s final rule in legal limbo.
Continue Reading Federal Court stays repeal of “On the Basis of Sex” definition in recent nondiscrimination final rule one day before regulations take effect

A final rule published by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) significantly scales back nondiscrimination regulations first released in 2016. The final rule, which was published in the Federal Register on June 19, 2020, implements Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and pares back numerous nondiscrimination regulations applicable to covered health care entities in an effort to reduce regulatory costs and eliminate duplicative legal obligations.

In doing so, the final rule drastically changes the interpretation of  Section 1557’s scope, waters down stringent requirements designed to promote universal access to covered programs and providers, and alters enforcement provisions. Despite these notable changes, certain core nondiscrimination provisions remain, such as communication and access standards for disabled and limited English proficiency (LEP) individuals. As a result, covered entities will need to understand how their obligations under the final rule change, what remains the same, and what to look out for moving forward when it becomes effective on August 18, 2020. Below are the new rule’s main takeaways.Continue Reading Office for Civil Rights issues final rule scaling back nondiscrimination requirements for health care covered entities as Supreme Court broadens discrimination protections