Wednesday, January 20, 2021
This week, President Biden takes office, making combatting COVID-19 his top priority. Employers are also planning ways to incentivize employee vaccination.
Biden Proposes $1.9 Trillion Spending Package
Last week, President Biden released a wide-ranging plan for combating the next medical and economic stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. His “American Rescue Plan” includes $400 billion for testing and vaccines, direct payments of $1,400 per eligible individual, and a $400/week unemployment benefit supplement extended through September. Congress authorized direct stimulus payments of $600 in December 2020. Biden’s proposal would add to that and increase to $2,000 the total direct financial assistance for eligible individuals. Read about the details of the plan.
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Much changed in the privacy law landscape in 2020, including a heightened focus on the use and disclosure of health information. As 2021 gets underway, businesses should be aware of the key legislative and regulatory changes in health data privacy that were teed up at the close of 2020, and which may now or soon affect them.
HIPAA Proposed Rulemaking
The Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule on Dec. 10, 2020. The proposed changes focus on strengthening individuals’ access to their health information, facilitating greater caregiver involvement in the care for individuals, and improving access to protected health information (PHI) during emergencies or health crises. There are five primary things to consider in the proposal:
Organizations Should Plan in 2021 to Comply with The California Privacy Rights Act’s Enhanced Cybersecurity Safeguards Thursday, January 14, 2021
The California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) leaps forward on cybersecurity by amending the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) to impose enhanced protections. The CPRA enhancements apply to “for profit” companies and other organizations: (a) with more than $25 million in gross revenues in the preceding calendar year, or (b) that annually buy, sell or share the personal information of 100,000 or more consumers or households, or (c) that derive at least 50 percent of their annual revenue from selling or sharing consumer personal information (“businesses”).
U.S. financial institutions should prepare for potential new regulations around data privacy and protection, digital identity verification and the use of biometrics, says OneSpan's Michael Magrath.