There has been a recent increase in breaches of protected health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act caused by issues in underlying technology.

In response, both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights and the Federal Trade Commission have issued press releases revealing that they sent a joint letter to approximately 130 hospitals, health systems and telehealth providers reiterating the privacy and security risks associated with using online tracking technologies — in particular, impermissible disclosure of an individual's health information to a third party.