Richmond partner Nathan Kottkamp commented in a Bloomberg BNA article about LabMD’s motion to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the Federal Trade Commission’s data security enforcement order against the medical testing company for storing patient information on a file-sharing network.
The case is poised to become a major driver of data security practices because it reveals the FTC’s expectations regarding reasonable data security practices and, if upheld, would solidify the FTC’s authority to enforce such actions, particularly with regard to entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. In its motion, LabMD argues that the FTC’s order “‘would effectuate a breathtaking expansion of the FTC’s authority that the legal community and members of Congress have already called into serious question.”
In the article, Kottkamp — who advises healthcare and life sciences companies on HIPAA compliance, data breach response and other regulatory issues — said, “LabMD has a meaningful chance of being heard on a threshold issue of whether the FTC’s order should be enforced while LabMD argues the fundamental authority of the FTC to issue an order in the first place.” He added, “A stay to allow the merits of the appeal to play out would make good sense.’’
The Oct. 12 article, titled “LabMD Asks 11th Circ. To Make FTC Hold Off Data Security Enforcement During Appeal,” is available online and in the Oct. 12 print edition of Privacy Law Watch.