The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed a new federal rule  that would strengthen privacy protections for abortion records, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California and the District of Columbia.

• California: Salesforce on Thursday announced its latest healthcare software offerings, which will target home health. This summer, Salesforce will add a home health component to its Health Cloud software solution, which will automate the intake and scheduling processes for patients who rely on in-home treatments. The software will target U.S.-based home healthcare providers and payers. According to Amit Khanna, Salesforce's SVP and general manager of healthcare and life sciences, the company is emphasizing home health because of consumer interest and the decrease in the overall cost of care. "This fits right into our DNA as a company," said Khanna, who noted that the company sees its system as complementary to the EHR. "We are not the system to provide care at the point of care inside hospitals." (Turner, Modern Healthcare, 4/13)
• California: New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday announced that  Juul  agreed to pay $462 million for allegedly contributing to the significant rise in youth vaping in recent years. The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by New York, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Mexico. Juul has now reached settlements with 47 states and territories, 5,000 individuals, and local governments. However, Wednesday's settlement marks the largest to date between Juul and state attorneys general. According to a Juul spokesperson, the settlement will allow the company to focus on pushing its products through  FDA's authorization process. "With this settlement, we are nearing total resolution of the company's historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future. We have now settled with 47 states and territories, providing over $1 billion to participating states, in addition to our global resolution of the U.S. private litigation," the spokesperson said. (Florko, STAT, 4/12; Jewett/Creswell, New York Times, 4/13)
• District of Columbia: HHS  on Wednesday proposed a new federal rule that would strengthen privacy protections for abortion records. Under the proposed rule, HIPAA protections would be expanded to prevent health records from being used to investigate or sue people who obtain or facilitate abortions. The proposed rule is aims to protect individuals who reside in states where abortion is illegal and who travel out of state to obtain the procedure. In addition, the rule would protect healthcare providers, insurers, or other entities that perform or finance abortions. Currently, medical records are protected by federal privacy laws, but health providers and insurers can still be forced to turn over medical records under a court order. According to Melanie Fontes Rainer, the director of the office of civil rights at HHS, clinicians around the country have expressed concerns about shielding those medical records from law enforcement. "We've had many conversations with providers, major medical associations and patient advocates about what they're seeing on the ground and how the federal government can be helpful in ensuring medical records are kept private," she said. (Lopez, Bloomberg Law, 4/12; Seitz, Associated Press, 4/12; Renshaw/Aboulenein, Reuters, 4/12; AP/Modern Healthcare, 4/12