You work in the HR department of a Gringotts, a mid-size, tech-savvy bank located in several cities throughout Florida.

You work in the HR department of a Gringotts, a mid-size, tech-savvy bank located in several cities throughout Florida.  Insuricare, the insurance company for the bank employees, approached your boss about creating a workplace wellness program.  The program involves bank staff receiving a FitBit watch in return for reduced insurance premiums if they meet certain fitness and wellness goals tracked by the FitBit.  Gringotts would have access to the information transmitted from the FitBit such as step counts, heart rate, and amount of sleep. Your boss stopped by your office to ask you about any privacy implications or laws that may exist for these types of wellness initiatives.  In order to research the issues, you decide to review laws such as statutes, cases, and regulations to ensure you provide a current a thorough response.

1. To start your research, you decide to look at Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to investigate whether employers must comply with HIPAA’s privacy requirements for individual’s health data.

a.  What is the public law number of the original enactment of HIPAA in 1996? 

      (Provide a research path)

b.  Use govinfo.gov to find the statutes at large citation for the original enactment 

    of HIPAA in 1996?  (Provide a research path)

2. Search the HHS.gov website for any agency guidance about whether HIPAA applies to employers who are considering implementing a program like one suggested by Insuricare.

a. What is the title and URL of the article you found?

 b.  Provide your research path and search terms you used to find the article.  

3.  Your boss seems to remember that in Washington, the state legislature passed a law to protect the privacy of residents from companies that collect biometric health data and information.    

a. Find the text of the Washington privacy statute and provide the title of the law, the effective date and an approximate citation (Chapter and section number, Bluebook citations IS NOT required)  

b. Provide your research path and search terms you used to find the statute.