Biden-era policy against hospital web trackers unlawful, judge rules
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[June 21, 2024]
(Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas on Thursday ruled that
guidance issued by President Joe Biden's administration that bars
hospitals and other medical providers from using online tracking
technologies that monitor users of their websites was unlawful.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth sided with two hospital
trade groups including the American Hospital Association and two local
healthcare systems in finding that the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services overstepped its authority when it adopted the
privacy-promoting guidance policy.
The guidance issued in 2022 warned healthcare providers that allowing
third-party technology companies to collect and analyze information
collected from visitors of their websites or apps could violate the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
That 1996 federal law bans the public disclosure of individuals' private
health information to protect them against discrimination, stigma or
other negative consequences. Hospitals that run afoul of the law can
face penalties.
The guidance, issued as a bulletin from the HHS Office of Civil Rights,
addressed the hospitals’ public-facing websites and said the
proliferation of the trackers on healthcare websites can reveal people’s
diagnoses, frequency of medical visits and put people at risk of other
consequences.
But Pittman, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump,
said HHS went too far by interpreting "individually identifiable health
information" protected by HIPAA as also covering metadata from a user's
search of a public website.
"To hold otherwise would empower HHS and other executive entities to
take increasingly expansive liberties with the finite authority granted
to them," Pittman wrote. "The Court is disinclined to set that precedent
here."
The judge vacated the guidance, which HHS recently revised after the
American Hospital Association, the country's largest hospital lobbying
group, and its co-plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in November.
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U.S. President Joe Biden reacts to questions from reporters during a
meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval
Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 17, 2024.
REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
HHS had no immediate comment.
Chad Golder, AHA’s general counsel, in a statement said that with
the court ruling, "hospitals and health systems will again be able
to rely on these important technologies to provide their communities
with reliable, accurate health care information."
AHA and its co-plaintiffs filed their case in the federal court in
Fort Worth, a venue that has become a favorite of litigants
challenging the agenda of Biden, a Democrat, and whose two active
judges are Republican appointees.
The guidance was issued as hospitals were increasingly facing class
actions accusing them of mishandling patients' information as a
result of using analytics technologies provided by Alphabet's
Google, Meta Platforms and other third-party companies that gathered
data about website visitors.
The agency had argued the guidance was not-binding, and it later
revised it to say it does not "have the force and effect of law."
But Pittman said it provided guidance regarding mandatory legal
obligations and that such agency guidance can "serve as a Trojan
horse for bureaucrats changing the rules of the game."
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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