Weekend update

Congress is back in town this week. The current continuing resolution funding the federal government expires on Friday December 20.

The Federal Benefits Open Season expires on December 9. OPM has added a note to its Open Season page stating the time at which expiration occurs for each of the programs, e.g., FEHBP at 11:59 pm ET.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control issued its final 2018 report on the 2018 birth rate in our country

3,791,712 births were registered in the United States in 2018, down 2% from 2017. Compared with rates in 2017, the general fertility rate declined to 59.1 births per 1,000 women aged 15–44. The birth rate for females aged 15–19 fell 7% in 2018. Birth rates declined for women aged 20–34 and increased for women aged 35–44. The total fertility rate declined to 1,729.5 births per 1,000 women in 2018. Birth rates for both married and unmarried women declined from 2017 to 2018. The percentage of women who began prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy rose to 77.5% in 2018; the percentage of all women who smoked during pregnancy declined to 6.5%. The cesarean delivery rate decreased to 31.9% in 2018 following an increase in 2017. Medicaid was the source of payment for 42.3% of all 2018 births, down 2% from 2017.

Lots of interesting facts in this report.

Also last week, the HHS Office for Civil Rights, which enforces the HIPAA Privacy and Security rules. announced that Sentara Hospitals, which has facilities in Virginia and North Carolina, has agreed to take remedial actions and pay a $2.175 million penalty.  The facts illustrate why it's important to know when to hold them and know when to fold them.

In April of 2017, HHS received a complaint alleging that Sentara had sent a bill to an individual containing another patient’s protected health information (PHI). OCR’s investigation determined that Sentara mailed 577 patients’ PHI to wrong addresses that included patient names, account numbers, and dates of services.  Sentara reported this incident as a breach affecting 8 individuals, because Sentara concluded, incorrectly, that unless the disclosure included patient diagnosis, treatment information or other medical information, no reportable breach of PHI had occurred.  Sentara persisted in its refusal to properly report the breach even after being explicitly advised of their duty to do so by OCR. OCR also determined that Sentara failed to have a business associate agreement in place with Sentara Healthcare, an entity that performed business associate services for Sentara.