The US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently reached a $4.75 million settlement with a New York City hospital for alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
According to OCR, in 2013, a former hospital employee sold the electronically protected medical records of 12,517 patients to an identity theft group, and the NYC hospital did not detect or report the breach to OCR until 2015. OCR’s investigation found several potential HIPAA violations, and in addition to the settlement, the hospital agreed to conduct a thorough security risk assessment, revise HIPAA policies, provide additional training to staff, begin recording and tracking all electronic health record (EHR) activity to monitor who is accessing patient information, and create a risk management plan. OCR will also monitor the hospital for two years for compliance with HIPAA.
New state privacy laws regulating health data impose significant obligations and heightened litigation and regulatory risks. During this webinar, Elliot Golding and Sam Siegfried discussed how these laws apply, what they require, and practical tips to implement and operationalize compliance.
Taxes can have a significant impact on family offices, influencing decisions around structure, investing and overall planning strategies. McDermott’s Family Office Tax webinar series explores the latest trends and guidance on tax planning for family offices and identifies opportunities to optimize tax efficiency.
Our first webinar covered the legal, tax and administrative considerations a family office faces when creating incentive and deferred compensation plans for employees. Discussion topics included:
Compensation strategies as tools to use in competing in the “war for talent”
Long-term incentive arrangements to reward performance and foster retention
Leveraged and non-leveraged co-investment opportunities
Benefits of carried interest, phantom equity and profit sharing
If you employ part-time workers and/or engage independent contractors, sit up and take note: 2024 brings significant changes to how you must manage your workforce. The US Department of Labor’s (DOL) revised Independent Contractor Rule introduces additional uncertainty as to how the agency and perhaps courts will decide independent contractor misclassification disputes. Provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act, meanwhile, will simultaneously impose a new mandate for employers to provide part-time workers with expanded access to retirement benefits.
In this webinar, McDermott Partners Brian J. Tiemann and Joseph K. Mulherin, along with Tom Robertson of Graystone Consulting, discussed the steps employers must take to ensure compliance with these new regulations taking effect in 2024.
Topics included:
How the SECURE 2.0 Act, starting this year, expands the criteria under which employers must offer part-time employees the opportunity to participate in employer-sponsored 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans
The DOL’s changes to its Independent Contractor Rule, compliance considerations, tips for strengthening the independent contractor argument and mitigating misclassification risks
Other benefits considerations employers must be aware of if required to reclassify workers, such as the mandate to provide employee health insurance under the Affordable Care Act
In late December 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2024-2 (the Notice), providing guidance on key provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0). SECURE 2.0, which was passed in December 2022, includes more than 90 provisions affecting US retirement plans, many of which are specifically aimed at enhancing savings opportunities for workers. The Notice provides guidance on many of the provisions of SECURE 2.0 in the form of questions and answers. This article covers the most significant provisions affecting 401(k) and 403(b) qualified retirement plans.