Prepared or not, Roe v. Wade leak or not, well being app builders are on discover. People who acquire delicate private info, akin to reproductive information, should rigorously navigate each federal and state legal guidelines. These legal guidelines are regularly in flux and warrant ongoing monitoring.
Final September, I wrote in regards to the FTC’s Coverage Assertion on imposing the Well being Breach Notification Rule. This adopted a weblog I posted about Flo Well being’s breach and failure to promptly notify its thousands and thousands of feminine customers that it allowed their private and uniquely delicate well being info for use by third events, together with Google and Fb, for their very own functions, together with promoting.
Yesterday, the California Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta issued a press launch stating:
“The Confidentiality of Medical Info Act (CMIA) applies to cell apps that are designed to retailer medical info, together with some fertility trackers, and establishes privateness protections that transcend federal legislation. In as we speak’s alert, Lawyer Normal Bonta urges well being apps to undertake sturdy safety and privateness measures to shield reproductive well being info. At a minimal, these apps ought to assess the dangers related to gathering and sustaining abortion-related info that could possibly be leveraged towards individuals looking for to train their healthcare rights.”
Client-facing well being apps that aren’t topic to HIPAA as enterprise associates should adjust to CMIA in the event that they acquire info of California shoppers, and apps which can be topic to HIPAA should adjust to any opposite and extra stringent CMIA privateness and safety necessities.
Lastly, Lawyer Normal Bonta identified that even when CMIA doesn’t apply to sure apps, different California legal guidelines (such because the California Client Privateness Act) could apply and supply information rights and protections.
Well being app builders should perceive not solely which information privateness and safety legal guidelines apply, however how the character and sensitivity of the information should dictate privateness and safety design. If they don’t, they danger scrutiny in what seemingly can be a carefully watched space of knowledge privateness for years to return.
When you’ve got any questions on how greatest to deal with the reproductive information you obtain and/or create as a vendor, or the applicability of HIPAA or state information and privateness legal guidelines to your organization, please contact me at elitten@foxrothschild.com.
