The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are cautioning hospitals and telehealth providers about the privacy and security risks related to the use of online tracking technologies that may be integrated into their websites or mobile apps that may be impermissibly disclosing consumers’ sensitive personal health data to third parties. Tracking technologies are used to collect and analyze information about how users interact with websites or mobile apps. Generally, tracking technologies developed by third parties send information directly to the third parties who developed such technologies and may continue to track users and gather information about them even after they navigate away from the original website to other websites.
OCR administers and enforces the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules which set minimum privacy and security standards for the protection of certain individually identifiable health information. FTC’s mission is protecting the public from deceptive or unfair business practices and from unfair methods of competition through law enforcement, advocacy, research, and education.
