On June 7, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-26 “An Act Concerning Various Revisions to the Public Health Statutes” (the “Act”). This Act makes notable changes to laws affecting hospital and health system practices, including the following:
Hospitals Required to Give Patients Option to Contact Family or other
On July 7, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-129 entitled “An Act Concerning Hospital Billing and Collection Efforts By Hospitals And Collection Agencies” (“the Act”). The Act expands the types of entities to which billing and collection restrictions apply, places further limitations on collection efforts by such entities, and makes several changes to Connecticut’s existing laws concerning facility fees.
Continue Reading Connecticut Governor Signs Bill Limiting Hospital Billing and Collection Efforts and Revising Connecticut’s Facility Fee Laws
On July 6, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-113 titled “An Act Concerning Opioids” (PA 21-113), which establishes pilot programs to help serve persons with opioid use disorder in urban, suburban, and rural communities, and requires the Commissioner of Public Health to issue and increase awareness of chronic pain treatment guidelines. PA 21-113 became effective on July 1, 2021.
Continue Reading Connecticut Legislature Passes Act to Help Address the Opioid Epidemic
On July 7, 2021 Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-135 (the “Act”). The Act, among other things, makes a revision to the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) statutes allowing DDS regional or training school directors to consent to emergency care for individuals under DDS custody in certain situations.
Existing law allows
On June 23, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-2 “An Act Concerning Provisions Related To Revenue And Other Items To Implement The State Budget For The Biennium Ending June 30, 2023” (PA 21-2). PA 21-2 makes various changes to Connecticut law as part of implementing the Governor’s budget, including, in pertinent part, a change to statutory requirements that apply to contracts between health carriers (insurers) and participating health care providers. This provision of PA 21-2 takes effect October 1, 2021.
Continue Reading Connecticut Budget Bill Includes Important Changes to Network Participation Contracts Between Health Care Providers and Insurers
On June 16, and then on July 6, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law a pair of bills that together address privacy and cybersecurity in the state. As cybersecurity risks continue to pose a significant threat to businesses and the integrity of private information, Connecticut joins other states in revisiting its data breach reporting laws to strengthen reporting requirements, and offer protection to businesses that have been the subject of a breach despite implementing cybersecurity safeguards from certain damages in resulting litigation.
Public Act 21-59 “An Act Concerning Data Privacy Breaches” (PA 21-59) modifies Connecticut law addressing data privacy breaches to expand the types of information that are protected in the event of a breach, to shorten the timeframe for reporting a breach, to clarify applicability of the law to anyone who owns, licenses, or maintains computerized data that includes “personal information,” and to create an exception for entities that report breaches in accordance with HIPAA. Public Act 21-119 “An Act Incentivizing the Adoption of Cybersecurity Standards for Businesses” (PA 21-119) correspondingly establishes statutory protection from punitive damages in a tort action alleging that inadequate cybersecurity controls resulted in a data breach against an entity covered by the law if the entity maintained a written cybersecurity program conforming to industry standards (as set forth in PA 21-119).
Both laws take effect October 1, 2021.
Continue Reading Connecticut Enacts Legislation to Incentivize Adoption of Cybersecurity Safeguards and Expand Breach Reporting Obligations
On May 10, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law “An Act Concerning Telehealth” (the “Act”). The Act extends, until June 30, 2023, many of the COVID-19 related telehealth expansions issued by Governor Lamont through executive orders. A press release from the Governor’s Office expressed the Act’s purpose to extend the duration