LabMD Files Complaint Against FTC Seeking to Stop Alleged Abuse of Power

Atlanta-based LabMD has hit the Federal Trade Commission with a lawsuit seeking to stop what the company calls an "abuse of power and regulation" of patient information without proper authority, claiming only HHS can enforce patient privacy laws.

In August 2013, the FTC filed a compliant against LabMD alleging the medical testing laboratory exposed roughly 10,000 consumers' personal information including consumers' names, social security numbers, dates of birth, insurance provider information and standardized medical treatment codes.

LabMD filed its lawsuit on March 20 in Georgia federal court and alleges the FTC commenced an investigation of LabMD in January 2010 and filed its administrative complaint in August 2013 although it has yet to inform LabMD of how its data security measures fell short or what it did wrong at any point during the relevant period of years.

The lawsuit further alleges the FTC does not have the power to broadly regulate data security and that Congress delegated the authority to regulate protected health information to the HHS.

To stop the alleged abuse of power by the FTC, LabMD is seeking a declaration that the FTC lacks jurisdiction under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to regulate PHI data-security practices.

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