4 ms·

Are they a covered entity?

by roegerle 2y ago

otterley 2y ago
That's not for any of us to determine here. A lawyer can answer that.
- roegerle 2y ago
  I doubt they are.
- maeil 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - rafram 2y ago
    This is literally an app that asks for your confidential medical information. My not-a-lawyer interpretation of the law is that it probably is not covered by HIPAA (to be a "business associate" you need to have a direct financial relationship with a covered entity, i.e., a medical provider), but your snark is pretty reductionist.
nkozyra 2y ago
While I agree that they probably aren't, their intended customer base is. And even so, nothing precludes people from pursuing civil damages if there's a data breach - this is far more likely with sensitive data coming from a medical provider to a third party. And as has been hinted at, the lack of professional presentation is going to hurt a lot, and people will immediately ask "can I trust this platform with any of my information?"
- netdevphoenix 2y ago
  Probably not even a data breach. A user's friend/relative who is a lawyer or works in health care or know someone who does will see the app and inmediately begin proceedings for a lawsuit. Once it is under the eye of the state, OP will be in big legal trouble. Building apps is cool but any app that uses critical stuff like real world infrastructure or personal data needs careful treading
  - skrebbel 2y ago
    > A user's friend/relative who is a lawyer or works in health care or know someone who does will see the app and inmediately begin proceedings for a lawsuit Why? What's in it for them? I'm not saying this can't happen, I'm just not sure I understand why you think it's so likely to happen.
    - fnimick 2y ago
      Damages? The potential payout is enormous.
      - skrebbel 2y ago
        Yeah but, how can there be damages without a breach?
        netdevphoenix 2y ago
        Kate is a citizen. She is 60 years old and the family lives away. She gets visited daily by a care worker. Kate downloads the app and enters her data. Kate shares her data with the care worker so it can be managed for things like appointments and medication. The manager of the care worker sees the app, checks that the site has no policy whatsoever. Shares the name of the app with the law department. Law department contacts the local health authority regarding the app legality. The local health authority begins proceedings against the developer. Developer loses money
        JoeAltmaier 2y ago
        That makes sense, and I hope it would work. Still, that's maybe an old view of how software and business work. In truth the app is a whipped-together thing, and the 'company' selling it is a shell. The address is a blind PO box. Law department visits the box and finds nobody. Shell company changes name (indeed, perhaps they have a different name for every victim) and resume operation immediately. Hell, they never stop selling for a millisecond. Follow the money? Ha. The modern ideas of currency make such schemes bulletproof.
fluidcruft 2y ago
> Kate's App is a tool created to support medical caregivers and the people they care for Seems like it is intended to be used by covered entities. But it does depend a bit on what "medical caregiver" is intended to mean.
astura 2y ago
No.

Are they a covered entity?

otterley 2y ago

That's not for any of us to determine here. A lawyer can answer that.

roegerle 2y ago
I doubt they are.
maeil 2y ago
[flagged]
- rafram 2y ago
  This is literally an app that asks for your confidential medical information. My not-a-lawyer interpretation of the law is that it probably is not covered by HIPAA (to be a "business associate" you need to have a direct financial relationship with a covered entity, i.e., a medical provider), but your snark is pretty reductionist.

nkozyra 2y ago

While I agree that they probably aren't, their intended customer base is. And even so, nothing precludes people from pursuing civil damages if there's a data breach - this is far more likely with sensitive data coming from a medical provider to a third party. And as has been hinted at, the lack of professional presentation is going to hurt a lot, and people will immediately ask "can I trust this platform with any of my information?"

netdevphoenix 2y ago
Probably not even a data breach. A user's friend/relative who is a lawyer or works in health care or know someone who does will see the app and inmediately begin proceedings for a lawsuit. Once it is under the eye of the state, OP will be in big legal trouble. Building apps is cool but any app that uses critical stuff like real world infrastructure or personal data needs careful treading
- skrebbel 2y ago
  > A user's friend/relative who is a lawyer or works in health care or know someone who does will see the app and inmediately begin proceedings for a lawsuit Why? What's in it for them? I'm not saying this can't happen, I'm just not sure I understand why you think it's so likely to happen.
  - fnimick 2y ago
    Damages? The potential payout is enormous.
    - skrebbel 2y ago
      Yeah but, how can there be damages without a breach?
      - netdevphoenix 2y ago
        Kate is a citizen. She is 60 years old and the family lives away. She gets visited daily by a care worker. Kate downloads the app and enters her data. Kate shares her data with the care worker so it can be managed for things like appointments and medication. The manager of the care worker sees the app, checks that the site has no policy whatsoever. Shares the name of the app with the law department. Law department contacts the local health authority regarding the app legality. The local health authority begins proceedings against the developer. Developer loses money
        JoeAltmaier 2y ago
        That makes sense, and I hope it would work. Still, that's maybe an old view of how software and business work. In truth the app is a whipped-together thing, and the 'company' selling it is a shell. The address is a blind PO box. Law department visits the box and finds nobody. Shell company changes name (indeed, perhaps they have a different name for every victim) and resume operation immediately. Hell, they never stop selling for a millisecond. Follow the money? Ha. The modern ideas of currency make such schemes bulletproof.

fluidcruft 2y ago

> Kate's App is a tool created to support medical caregivers and the people they care for Seems like it is intended to be used by covered entities. But it does depend a bit on what "medical caregiver" is intended to mean.

astura 2y ago

No.