It’s all about personal health data–sharing, bad sharing, and bad transfers in this roundup. VillageMD takes another hit, this time on Meta Pixel ad tracker issues. A class-action lawsuit filed on 10 April charges VillageMD (formally Village Practice Management Company), via its Village Medical website, of using the Meta Pixel ad tracker for disclosing user-protected health information (PHI) and other identifiable information generally classified as PII. This included visitors to their website villagemedical.com seeking information and patient users of Village Medical’s web-based tools for scheduling and the patient portal. The lawsuit by a “John Doe”, a patient since January 2023... Continue Reading
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FTC, HHS OCR scrutiny tightens on third-party ad trackers, sends letter to 130 hospitals and telehealth providers
If you’ve checked on your legal department, they may resemble Pepper (left). Hospitals and telehealth companies have been put on notice by letter agencies HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that personal health information–not just protected health information (PHI) covered by HIPAA–that can be transmitted to third-parties by ad trackers like Meta Pixel is now forbidden, verboten, not permitted. In the joint statement by OCR and FTC, hospitals, providers, and telehealth providers were explicitly told that use of these online trackers is being equated with violations of consumer privacy. Their release specified “sensitive information”... Continue Reading
FTC, DOJ float enhanced information requirements for HSR premerger notification filing process–what will be M&A effects?
...rationale for action is protecting consumer privacy outside of HIPAA. Both companies definitely fractured consumer trust by misusing ad trackers like Meta Pixel for information gathering, sloppy handling, and monetizing customer health information with third parties. The signs are that FTC will stay aggressive in delving into areas such as consumer harm and how companies manage their data. Earlier this week, two senators in a letter forced Amazon to delay the national rollout of Amazon Clinic until data sharing information was provided by citing the FTC action with GoodRx as the stick. You don’t have to be a HIPAA-covered entity... Continue Reading
Amazon Clinic delays 50-state telehealth rollout due to Federal data privacy, HIPAA concerns on user registration, PHI–is it a warning?
...and telehealth vendors.) The letter raises the sensible, usual questions on why personal data is being collected and what Amazon is doing with it. For instance, it requests responses on how patient data is used by Amazon, what data is shared with third-party entities, and what data is used in any analytics or algorithms. It cites as a non-compliance example the $1.5 million that GoodRx paid in an FTC penalty on their past Meta Pixel usage for ad tracking. (Interestingly avoiding the $7.5 million Teladoc paid for similar ad tracker misuse by BetterHelp.) The $30/visit service has been available in... Continue Reading
Monday roundup: Envision files Ch. 11, who’s to blame for Meta Pixel abuse?, CVS Health to shut clinical trials unit, Amino Health scoops $80M, DocGo flat but optimistic, Owlet way down in revenue
...Orleans plus Willis-Knighton Health in northwest Louisiana (Healthcare Dive). If the District Court finds that Meta, and possibly other ad trackers such as those from Google, Twitter, or Bing were not inherently liable for personal health data violations that monetized PHI, then the health systems are 100% on the hook for the data breaches (or ‘wiretapping’ in a creative use of terminology). It also makes the potential paydays possibly less lucrative–in the eyes of this Editor, as Meta and Google have far deeper pockets than any ol’ health system. SC Media, Paubox The Meta Pixel backstory here CVS Health to... Continue Reading
Week-end roundup: Cano Health’s $60M loss and divesting, Oscar Health exits CA, UCSF Meta Pixel lawsuit narrows, Syneos goes private for $7.1B, Envision nears Ch. 11, Australia’s A$429M EHR modernization funded
...have 35,000 members, their medical loss ratios (MLR) are over 100% versus the desired 80%. (MLR, a key metric in exchange plans, is defined as the proportion of total paid medical service claims and all quality improvement activities together, then dividing that number by the total premium revenue minus all allowable deductions. New CEO Mark Bertolini says they will return when Oscar reshapes their product offerings and strategy. This Editor hears a heavy boot drop. Healthcare Dive Lawsuits of health systems on Meta Pixel being used to send private patient information to Facebook and other third-party advertisers are now rolling... Continue Reading
Mid-week roundup: Kaiser Permanente to buy Geisinger, setup separate system; GoodRx co-CEOs step down; strong earnings for Centene, Humana; Clover Health stock woes, settles $22M lawsuit
...staying with the company as chief mission officer and chairman respectively. Wagner was formerly CEO of GoDaddy and is a board member of other digital and advertising businesses. In February, GoodRx was the first ‘victim’ of the newly aggressive Federal Trade Commission policies on Meta Pixel and other ad trackers collecting user health-related data and sharing for revenue with Facebook, Google, Criteo, and other advertising sites. The FTC used the Health Breach Notification Rule, created in 2009, to GoodRx in a Federal court with misuse of consumer health information. Even though GoodRx is not a HIPAA-covered entity and they ended... Continue Reading
Breaking: Amazon closes One Medical $3.9B buy, despite loose ends–and is the Antitrust Bear being poked?
...attention for possible misuse of consumer information. Sidebar: This FTC is ‘feeling its oats’ on antitrust. GoodRx found itself making history as FTC’s first culprit of the 2009 Health Breach Notification Rule, used to prosecute companies for misuse of consumer health information. This was for their past use of Meta Pixel, discontinued 2019, to send information to third-party advertisers. One Medical is a HIPAA-covered entity which puts it at a far higher risk level. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has not publicly moved to approve or disapprove–yet. The change of ownership has not been reported as passing muster by regulators... Continue Reading
Ad tracker action heats up: Congress questions DTC telehealth companies on sensitive patient health data sent to advertisers
It looks like telemental and addiction counseling telehealth sites are routinely sending patient information to media ad platforms–Google, Facebook (Meta), TikTok, Microsoft, Snapchat, Bing, Pinterest, and Twitter–to serve ads back to patients. Four Senators sent letters this week to three telehealth companies treating patients: Monument (alcohol addiction), Workit Health (opioid and alcohol), and Cerebral (ADHD and other mental health). The letters questioned the use of ad trackers (pixels) such as Meta Pixel that collect information from telehealth sites and then use the information to send users targeted ads based on that information. Except that this is not about curtains or... Continue Reading
News roundup: GoodRx pays $1.5M to FTC on Meta Pixel use, ATA concerns on Covid PHE end, defending Livongo sale to Teladoc, Philips lays off 18K, Amazon health layoffs–and big ’22 loss, Ireland HSE digital head quits, Matt Hancock assaulted on Tube
Rounding up the week–and it’s not over. Prescription discounter GoodRx settled with the FTC for $1.5 million for the unauthorized sharing of user health data with Facebook, Google, Criteo, and other advertising sites. GoodRx used the Meta Pixel and other Javascript trackers in software development kits (SDK) for sharing user data with third-party advertisers. They would then be capable of serving personalized health and medication-specific ads to GoodRx users. This differs from the earlier Meta Pixel incidents which involved hospitals using the tracker on their website appointment schedulers and patient portals which exposed personal health information (PHI) under HIPAA regulations.... Continue Reading
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