"[Covered entities] must report small breaches to OCR no later than 60 days after the end of the calendar year in which the small breaches were discovered.... Steps to take for notifications ... [1] Designating a person within the covered entity ... [2] Preparing the contents of the notification in advance.... [3] Printing out and retaining a 'receipt' of the filing of the notification ... [4] Verifying that the covered entity has appropriate documentation in place."  MORE >>

"The Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act (HPHCA) requires private employers to provide healthcare coverage for all eligible Hawaii employees.... The state's Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) must approve all plans before employers can offer the coverage to employees or implement any plan changes -- including deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums.... Approval for a new self-insured plan may take a minimum of six to eight months once the employer completes and submits the necessary documents."  MORE >>

"[A] split panel in the Fifth Circuit is the first appellate court to signal certain private employer mandates could be vulnerable. The opinion ... reverses the district court's denial of a preliminary injunction against the airline's mandatory vaccine program." [Sambrano v. United Airlines, No. 21-11159 (5th Cir. Feb. 17, 2022; unpub.)]  MORE >>

"A novel company promoting lower prescription drug costs failed to allege a conspiracy among CVS Pharmacy and three pharmacy benefit managers after they declined to utilize the company's services.... Run it First set forth factual allegations showing what it described as a 'series of concerted events' ... that established the inference of a conspiracy among the defendant companies. The court, however, held that these events were merely non-contemporaneous, independent actions." [Run it First, LLC v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., No. 21-22604 (S.D. Fla. Feb. 16, 2022)  MORE >>

"The court concluded that the plan correctly interpreted the term 'layoff' as excluding terminations based on disability, and that this interpretation was consistent with regulations under Section 409A (which were incorporated in the plan's definition of layoff)." [Soto v. Disney Severance Pay Plan, No. 20-4081 (2d Cir. Feb. 16, 2022)]  MORE >>