Wandering Through The Consumer Health Data Privacy & Security Forest? There Is A Guide For That.....

If you are in the consumer health space, you have (or at least we hope you have...) figured out by now that there are health-related privacy and security laws and regulations that apply to your business. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are the cops on the block, taking that role seriously. And, the consequences for failing to recognize compliance obligations can be severe. We've written about several important developments, for example, the FTC enforcement action against GoodRx under the Breach Notification Rule, and the joint "warning" from the FTC and HHS regarding the use of third-party tracking technologies.

The FTC and HHS have published a handy joint publication that gathers the various legal obligations into one place if you are collecting, sharing, or using consumer health information. The publication focuses on four primary sources: