On June 15, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the HIPAA statute does not provide a private cause of action. A patient at a hospital in Washington, District of Columbia, claimed that the medical intake computer station violated HIPAA’s privacy protections. She filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the District of Columbia’s Office of Human Rights, but neither would pursue her claims.

On Thursday, June 14, 2018, a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, in a two to one decision, voted against two health insurers in their bid for increased risk corridor payments under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Section 1342 of the ACA established a temporary risk corridors program allowing for sharing in insurers’ gains and losses that resulted from inaccurate rate setting from 2014 through 2016 between the federal government and qualified health plans. 

On June 11, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new guidance to state Medicaid directors about how states can harness Medicaid health information technology to combat the opioid crisis. CMS encourages states to pursue strategies such as enhanced prescription drug monitoring programs, drug utilization review programs, and opioid risk assessment tools which can be integrated into electronic health record systems...

On Monday, June 4, 2018, Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy ordered the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to submit by June 11, 2018 a state plan to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)to provide expanded Medicaid eligibility to appropriate Maine residents pursuant to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).