Breaking Legal News & Current Law Headlines | Daily Legal Briefing
  • Home
  • Hot Topics
  • Breaking
  • Business
  • Big Law
  • Small Law
  • Law School
  • Legal Tech
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Breaking Legal News & Current Law Headlines | Daily Legal Briefing
No Result
View All Result
Home Legal Tech

What Should Tech Companies do to Navigate Privacy Concerns in Post-Dobbs Era?

Daily Legal Briefing by Daily Legal Briefing
December 2, 2022
in Legal Tech
0
What Should Tech Companies do to Navigate Privacy Concerns in Post-Dobbs Era?
4
SHARES
32
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Data breach, cybersecurity, hacking,

Patient privacy is evolving rapidly in the post-Dobbs era, healthcare and life science lawyers said in a webinar hosted by the American Bar Association on Wednesday. 

“For now, a request from law enforcement personnel for protected health information is not valid unless it is pursuant to a process or as otherwise required by law,” said Lynn Barrett, a healthcare lawyer at Wachler & Associates. 

Barrett and other panelists discussed what the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) actually protects as it pertains to reproductive health data following the Dobbs decision in June and how the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is carrying out those rules. Physicians, reproductive clinics and femtech companies need to understand this intimately to mitigate liability as well as protect patients.

Barrett, who is based in Florida where abortion is restricted, explained that if a patient were to go to their doctor and say they’re pregnant but don’t plan to have the baby, the provider wouldn’t be required to disclose that information to a law enforcement officer. 

“What OCR is saying is that the intention to do something cannot be reported under HIPAA,” Barrett said. 

The OCR worked with the American Medical Association and other medical organizations to develop their legal position, which is, “It would be inconsistent with professional and ethical standards to disclose to law enforcement anything regarding an individual’s interest, intent or prior experience with reproductive health,” Barrett said.

An interesting situation will be the federal preemption issues that occur if a physician in Texas or Florida or another restrictive state decides to call law enforcement, Barrett said, referring to when federal law and state law conflict each other. 

When it comes to medical information that’s not shared with a provider, but that’s related to a personal device, such as a cellphone or laptop, it’s even trickier. HIPAA does not protect information on personal devices.

“If law enforcement suspects that an individual has had an illegal abortion, they could go and request access to that individual’s phone, their applications that they‘re using, their femtech apps, anything like that,” said Bethany Corbin, a femtech lawyer at Nixon Gwilt Law.

As a result of increased privacy concerns, some femtech apps, such as the period tracking app Flo, have enabled an “anonymous” mode, Corbin said. Still, she cautioned against users having a “false sense of security” because it’s unclear what “anonymous” means.

“That’s something we’re going to have to continue to watch to see how many apps come out with those modes, and if there’s any further regulation of that,” Corbin said. 

The value of health data on the black market, just a general healthcare record is about $250, Corbin said. And if you compare that to something like a credit card, a credit card goes for about $5.60 on the black market. So the value of health data is already hugely increased from almost any other type of data you can get on the black market, Corbin said. 

Some femtech companies have added a paid version of their free apps which adds more privacy, so customers can have a sense of security, but this is also new territory and there needs to be more regulation, Corbin added. 

Another panelist, Heather Deixler, a partner at Latham and Watkins in the healthcare and life sciences practice area, said there’s a high need for a federal privacy law to protect reproductive healthcare information because the “patchwork” laws that vary state by state are very difficult to navigate. 

Deixler said there’s an analogy to draw between how patient data is protected when it involves reproductive health and when it involves substance use disorder. For example, she said, when a patient is recovering from substance use disorder, their patient information is protected from law enforcement, even though what they’re doing is engaging in illegal acts of abusing substances. 

“Taking that approach could be a really good way to limit this [reproductive health] information from being disclosed to law enforcement,” Deixler said. 

Deixler also described how the Federal Trade Commission has reacted to privacy concerns. In one case she described, the FTC sued data broker Kochava for selling patient data that tracked when people visited a reproductive health clinic. 

In another case, the FTC sued period tracking app Flo for selling data to Facebook and Google without the patient’s consent. 

“They were saying they weren’t sharing data with third parties but they were,” Deixler said of Flo. “Part of what the FTC did was enforce transparency and said you need to get consent with individuals before sharing information.”

The case was a “wake up call” for people using these apps, Deixler said. 

In a segment on what tech companies should be doing amid privacy issues, Deixler suggested tech companies use end-to-end encryption to protect patient data, limit the collection and sale of information that can reveal pregnancy status, stop using artificial intelligence tools that reveal pregnancy status, and vet data sharing relationships.

Photo: JuSun, Getty Images



Click to Read Original Article

Previous Post

Skadden’s Bonuses Contain Extra Good News For Senior Associates

Next Post

Compelling Reasons for Connecting Corporate Social Media Platforms

Daily Legal Briefing

Daily Legal Briefing

The latest breaking legal news from across World all in one place.

Related Posts

Why The Legal Work Experience Is Broken And How You Can Do Better
Legal Tech

Why The Legal Work Experience Is Broken And How You Can Do Better

by Daily Legal Briefing
February 6, 2023
Startup Alley Voting Ends Friday; Here Are The Current Standings
Legal Tech

Startup Alley Voting Ends Friday; Here Are The Current Standings

by Daily Legal Briefing
February 4, 2023
OpenAI Wants To Help You Figure Out If Text Was Written By OpenAI; But What Happens When It’s Wrong?
Legal Tech

OpenAI Wants To Help You Figure Out If Text Was Written By OpenAI; But What Happens When It’s Wrong?

by Daily Legal Briefing
February 4, 2023
Now At The Non-Event: Check Out Our New ATL Swag! 
Legal Tech

How To Turn Your Firm’s Clients Into Raving Fans

by Daily Legal Briefing
February 4, 2023
What Do Millennials Think Of Law Firm Life?
Legal Tech

What Do Millennials Think Of Law Firm Life?

by Daily Legal Briefing
February 2, 2023
Next Post
Paid Social Media Optimization 101: Make the Most of Your Firm’s Marketing Dollars

Compelling Reasons for Connecting Corporate Social Media Platforms

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Premium Content

Biglaw Firm Offers NFTs To Lawyers Completing Its Metaverse Course In Experiment To Shove As Many Buzzwords In A Title

Biglaw Firm Offers NFTs To Lawyers Completing Its Metaverse Course In Experiment To Shove As Many Buzzwords In A Title

September 26, 2022
iManage and Microsoft Announce Strategic Partnership to Drive Innovation and Better Outcomes for Customers

iManage and Microsoft Announce Strategic Partnership to Drive Innovation and Better Outcomes for Customers

February 25, 2022
Congressional candidate, lawyer are among those allegedly harassed in US by agents acting for China

Congressional candidate, lawyer are among those allegedly harassed in US by agents acting for China

March 17, 2022

Browse by Category

  • Big Law
  • Breaking
  • Business
  • Hot Topics
  • Law School
  • Legal Tech
  • Small Law

About US

Breaking Legal News & Current Law Headlines | Daily Legal Briefing.
Online coverage of breaking legal news and current law headlines from around the US. Top stories, videos, insight, and in-depth analysis.

Categories

  • Big Law
  • Breaking
  • Business
  • Hot Topics
  • Law School
  • Legal Tech
  • Small Law

Recent Updates

  • Baker McKenzie Investigating Racism Claims; Partner Steps Away From Leadership Role
  • This Biglaw Firm Has The Urge To Merge, But Can’t Find A Willing Partner
  • Why The Legal Work Experience Is Broken And How You Can Do Better

© 2021 Daily Legal Briefing | Breaking Legal News & Current Law Headlines

No Result
View All Result
  • Contact Us
  • Home

© 2021 Daily Legal Briefing | Breaking Legal News & Current Law Headlines

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?