Abby Higgins
Subscribe to Abby Higgins's PostsAbby Higgins provides regulatory counseling on all aspects of state and federal healthcare laws impacting hospitals and healthcare systems, with a particular emphasis on digital health products and services. Abby has experience handling issues related to fraud and abuse, Stark Law, federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), Food & Drug Administration regulations, cannabis laws and patient data protection. Read Abby Higgins's full bio.
FTC Amends Health Breach Notification Rule to Regulate Health Apps and Expand Breach Notification Requirements
By Jennifer S. Geetter, Edward G. Zacharias, Alya Sulaiman, Kyle E. Hafkey and Abby Higgins on Jun 26, 2024
Posted In Digital Health, Privacy and Data Security
On April 26, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule to amend its Health Breach Notification Rule (HBN Rule). The HBN Rule works as a compliment and counterpart to the breach notification requirements established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for HIPAA-regulated entities. Specifically, the HBN Rule requires that...
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States Move to Regulate Telehealth-Related Youth Services
By Stacey Callaghan and Abby Higgins on Oct 19, 2023
Posted In Digital Health, Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
Numerous states—including Louisiana, Ohio, California, Tennessee and New Jersey—have been finalizing rulemaking and legislation that create or amend professional practice standards to incorporate telehealth. Several of these states have also proposed regulations or laws related to the provision of care to youths. Read more here.
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States Amend Professional Practice Standards to Incorporate Telehealth
By Patrick Zanayed and Abby Higgins on Aug 31, 2023
Posted In Digital Health, Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
Numerous states—including Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky and Oklahoma—have been busy finalizing rulemaking and legislation that create or amend professional practice standards to incorporate telehealth. What have these states been up to over the last month? Learn more here.
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Remote Monitoring Services Under Review: Update on Potential Medicare Coverage Policies
By Caroline Reignley, Deborah Godes, Michael Ryan, Dale C. Van Demark, Marshall E. Jackson, Jr. and Abby Higgins on Jul 12, 2023
Posted In Digital Health, Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
On May 19, 2023, Novitas Solutions and First Coast Options sent an email to certain interested parties, with whom they had engaged following the multijurisdictional contractor advisory committee (CAC) meeting, explaining that they have decided to not pursue at this time a local coverage determination for remote physiological monitoring (RPM) and remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM)....
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Major Changes Proposed to Substance Use Disorder Confidentiality Law
By Scott Weinstein, Edward G. Zacharias, Abby Higgins and Li Wang on Jan 24, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published December 2, 2022 (the Proposed Rule), the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed long-awaited changes to the regulations protecting the confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records under Part 2 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations (42 CFR Part 2, or...
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Omnibus Bill Extends Medicare Telehealth Flexibilities and HDHP Telehealth Safe Harbor
By Amanda Enyeart, Marshall E. Jackson, Jr., Lisa Schmitz Mazur, Rachel Stauffer, Grayson I. Dimick, Jayda Greco, Abby Higgins, Ashley Ogedegbe and Sarah Raaii on Dec 28, 2022
Posted In Digital Health, Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
On December 23, 2022, US Congress approved a year-end omnibus legislative package, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (CAA 2023), which consists of all 12 fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills and numerous other provisions, including health policy changes. The healthcare provisions in this omnibus package extend key Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the temporary telehealth safe harbor for...
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