OCR Did Not Fine Ambry Over How Documents Moved. It Fined Them Over Who Could Reach Them

On 17 September the HHS Office for Civil Rights announced a $700,000 settlement with Ambry Genetics over a phishing breach affecting 225,370 people. Read the findings and something stands out. OCR did not cite a single provision about how protected health information...

Most Fax Breaches Are a Wrong Number. Most Fines Are a Missing Risk Analysis

Two things are true about fax and HIPAA, and they point in different directions. Almost no fax incident starts with someone intercepting a transmission. It starts with a wrong number. And almost no enforcement action turns on the wrong number itself. It turns on the...

Drug Prior Authorization Is Next to Leave the Fax Line. Here Is What Stays

Drug prior authorization is the next exchange with a proposed electronic destination. CMS-0062 would put it on FHIR APIs for medical benefit drugs and NCPDP standards for pharmacy benefit drugs, with a proposed compliance date of 1 October 2027. It is still a...

Your Analog Fax Line Has 180 Days. Fax Server Software Is the Way Out

AT&T started permanently decommissioning copper in roughly 500 wire centers in June 2026. Business lines get a minimum of 180 days of notice, and then the dial tone stops for good. If a fax machine still sits on one of those lines, fax server software is the part...

The Proposed HIPAA Security Rule Wants Encryption Everywhere. Fax Is Where That Breaks

The proposed overhaul of the HIPAA Security Rule would delete the word “addressable” from the regulation. Every safeguard becomes required, including encryption of electronic protected health information in transit and at rest. It is a proposal, not law,...