In 2013, the FTC filed a complaint against LabMD, a laboratory that performs medical testing for physicians, alleging LabMD failed to adequately protect patient data after patient data for more than 9,000 consumers was made available on a peer-to-peer file-sharing network.
LabMD filed a motion to dismiss the case in a lower federal court in Georgia saying the FTC does not have authority to regulate protected health information. The lower federal court denied the motion. LabMD then filed a motion to dismiss the case in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which also denied the motion. However, the Eleventh Circuit did not discuss the FTC’s authority to enforce healthcare privacy standards, saying instead LabMD first needs to go through the FTC administrative hearing process before the laboratory can ask federal courts to contribute to the FTC’s authority, according to the report.
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