NHS’ Plans to Share Patient Records with Third Parties
NHS Digital (the national custodian for health and care data in England) in May 2021, announced a new data sharing initiative called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) service. The launch of the GPDPR could result in the historical medical records of up to 55 million patients … Read More
Part II – Digital Health Passports in Europe: Amended Proposal for a Digital Green Certificate and Eligible Testing Methods
In March 2021, the European Commission released a proposal for the creation of a “Digital Green Certificate,” which will allow EU citizens to travel easier throughout the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, the EU Member States agreed on some proposed changes to the proposal, including strengthening of the … Read More
Part I – Digital Health Passports in Europe: Facilitating a Return to the “New Normal” or an Intrusion of Privacy?
With the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine and the start of easing of social distancing measures, the latest initiative being considered at a national as well as an international level is the introduction of so-called “digital health passports” or “immunity passports,” i.e., a tool to record and share the immune … Read More
European Commission Releases Assessment of the EU Member States’ Rules on Health Data in Light of GDPR
On February 12, 2021, the European Commission (Commission) published an “Assessment of the EU Member States’ rules on health data in the light of GDPR” (the Assessment). The Assessment concludes, amongst other things, that there are variations in the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation … Read More
East Coast Meets West Coast: Enter the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act
For over two and a half years, California has enjoyed the spotlight of having the most comprehensive data privacy law in the United States. On March 2, 2021, Virginia forced California to share the honors, when Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA).… Read More
A Digital Europe – Digital Health and other Recent EU Data Initiatives
Taking a step into the digital age, the European Commission announced that the 2020s shall become the EU’s Digital Decade. The EU’s digitalization, including in the area of health, is one of the Commission’s key priorities and covers a wide range of actions and related initiatives.
Building on prior initiatives, … Read More
HHS Issues Proposed Rule Modernizing HIPAA Privacy Rule
On December 10, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) that would make a number of key changes to the Privacy Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and the Health … Read More
Mobile Technologies and COVID-19: A Primer on Privacy Considerations and Fighting the Virus with Cell Phones
Sidley associate Michael R. Roberts is the author of “Mobile Technologies and COVID-19: A Primer on Fighting the Virus with Cell Phones,” an article published in the Fall 2020 issue of Infrastructure, a quarterly publication of the American Bar Association’s Infrastructure and Regulated Industries Section. The article was also … Read More
California Amends Privacy Laws Again: CCPA Health Information Amendment and Employee/B2B Exemption Signed into Law; Vetoes for Genetic Privacy and Social Media Parental Consent Bills
California’s Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed into law two bills to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). He also vetoed two other consumer privacy bills based on concerns about potential conflicts with existing state and federal law. Collectively, these four bills represented the most significant privacy legislation that came … Read More