The American Hospital Association requested a Texas federal judge issue an expedited judgment in support of their legal opposition to a rule by the HHS that limits the utilization of third-party web technologies on sections of hospitals' webpages.
On Jan. 5, the AHA submitted its initial argument in a legal case contesting a December 2022 regulation from HHS' Office for Civil Rights. This rule imposes limitations on the application of common third-party web technologies responsible for capturing IP addresses on sections of publicly accessible web pages for hospitals.
The AHA argues that the rule surpasses the government's authority under HIPAA, breaches the Administrative Procedure Act and causes harm to the individuals it aims to safeguard.
"A gross overreach by the federal bureaucracy, imposed without any input from healthcare providers or the general public, this new rule is being actively enforced by HHS against hospitals and health systems across the country, even while the federal government's own healthcare providers continue to use these purportedly prohibited technologies on their own webpages," the AHA brief states. "This court should declare the rule unlawful and enjoin its enforcement against Plaintiffs Texas Health Resources and United Regional Health Care System and the other members of the American Hospital Association and the Texas Hospital Association (the Associations)."
In November, the American Hospital Association, the Texas Hospital Association, Arlington-based Texas Health Resources and Wichita Falls, Texas-based United Regional Health Care System filed a lawsuit against the HHS, opposing the agency's position that online data gathered for advertising and backend operations might breach federal health privacy laws.
The HHS rule comes at a time when many hospitals and health systems in the U.S. are facing lawsuits that allege third-party tracking tools on their websites and patient portals have been sending patient information to tech giants like Meta and Google.
In July, HHS' Office for Civil Rights and the Federal Trade Commission released letters that were sent to 66 hospitals and health systems warning them that their websites may be using these tracking tools.