HHS Publishes Final Changes to HIPAA Privacy Rule
Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.15.02
On Wednesday, August 14, 2002, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") published in the Federal Register revised Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information ("Final Rule") under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, P.L. 104-191 ("HIPAA"). Most health care entities must be fully compliant with the Final Rule by April 14, 2003. The changes set forth in the Final Rule modify privacy standards originally promulgated in December 2000 ("Privacy Rule"), and are substantially similar to changes to the Privacy Rule proposed by HHS in a March 2002 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("March NPRM"). The Final Rule - available at www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa - is intended "to maintain strong protections for the privacy of individually identifiable health information while clarifying certain of the Privacy Rule's provisions, addressing the unintended negative effects of the Privacy Rule on health care quality or access to health care, and relieving unintended administrative burdens created by the Privacy Rule." more...
Insights
Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.12.26
DOJ Guidance Backs Away From Disparate Impact Liability
On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a formal opinion concluding that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) existing interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) disparate-impact liability, including the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), are unconstitutional. According to the opinion, EEOC’s prior interpretations contemplate liability based on disproportionately adverse effects alone, without regard to an employer’s likely intent, rather than treating disparate impact as an evidentiary mechanism to “smoke out” intentional discrimination. DOJ found that this approach functions as a “qualified racial-proportionality mandate” that places “a racial thumb on the scales, often requiring employers to evaluate the racial outcomes of their policies, and to make decisions based on (because of) those racial outcomes.” The opinion fulfills one mandate of Executive Order 14281, which rejected disparate-impact liability insofar as it “creates a near insurmountable presumption that unlawful discrimination exists wherever there are any differences in outcomes among different [demographic groups].”
Client Alert | 4 min read | 06.12.26
Auto Dealers: The FTC Is Back in the Driver’s Seat — Warning Letters Signal Renewed Federal Scrutiny
Client Alert | 13 min read | 06.12.26
Client Alert | 4 min read | 06.12.26
