Laura Hoffman
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lahoff.bsky.social
Laura Hoffman
@lahoff.bsky.social
450 followers 280 following 270 posts
Trained in public health, human rights, & law.

Then: Former health tech lobbyist for the AMA, focused on protecting privacy.

Now: travel pro, cat mom, and immigrant.

Still masking.
Still against genocide. 🇵🇸🇸🇩🇨🇩
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lahoff.bsky.social
Statistics are sometimes used to express the scale of the destruction in Sudan. About 14 million people have been displaced by years of fighting, more than in Ukraine and Gaza combined. Some 4 million of them have fed across borders, many to arid, impoverished places-Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan—where there are few resources to support them. At least 150,000 people have died in the conflict, but that's likely a significant undercounting. Half the population, nearly 25 million people, is expected to go hungry this year. Hundreds of thousands of people are directly threatened with starvation. More than 17 million children, out of 19 million, are not in school. A cholera epidemic rages. Malaria is endemic.
November 2, 2025 at 12:36 PM
lahoff.bsky.social
To this day, only a few scholars of the Holocaust, and no institution dedicated to researching and commemorating it, has issued a warning that Israel could be accused of carrying out war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing or genocide. This silence has made a mockery of the slogan "Never again," transforming its meaning from an assertion of resistance to inhumanity wherever it is perpetrated to an excuse, an apology, indeed, even a carte blanche for destroying others by invoking one's own past victimhood.
July 15, 2025 at 12:55 PM
lahoff.bsky.social
But regardless of a seeming lack of procedural history and/or know-how, does AHA not have more worthwhile issues in healthcare to address right now? It, like the administration, needs to target vulnerable folks?

What happened to your mission and vision?

Do better, AHA.
From AHA's Vision and Mission section on its website's "About Us" page. The AHA vision is of a just society of healthy communities, where all individuals reach their highest potential for health. Mission To advance the health of all individuals and communities. The AHA leads, represents and serves hospitals, health systems and other related organizations that are accountable to communities and committed to equitable care and health improvement for all.
July 15, 2025 at 12:59 AM
lahoff.bsky.social
(Not to mention the above-mentioned law requires a consent form for Part 2 record release and HHS can't (legally) regulate around that, so this is a dumb thing to ask for in a comment letter seeking regulatory relief. Though we are living in an extremely dumb timeline, so I guess that tracks.)
Excerpt from H.R. 748—96, stating: "(1) CONSENT.—The following shall apply with respect to the contents of any record referred to in subsection (a): "(A) Such contents may be used or disclosed in accordance with the prior written consent of the patient with respect to whom such record is maintained. "(B) Once prior written consent of the patient has been obtained, such contents may be used or disclosed by a covered entity, business associate, or a program subject to this section for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations as permitted by the HIPAA regula-tions. Any information so disclosed may then be redisclosed in accordance with the HIPAA regulations. Section 13405(c) of the Health Information Technology and Clinical Health Act (42 U.S.C. 17935(c)) shall apply to all disclosures pursuant to subsection (b)(1) of this section. "(C) It shall be permissible for a patient's prior written consent to be given once for all such future uses or disclosures for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations, until such time as as the patient revokes such consent in writing. "(D) Section 13405(a) of the Health Information Technology and Clinical Health Act (42 U.S.C. 17935(a)) shall apply to all disclosures pursuant to subsection (b)(1) of this section."
July 15, 2025 at 12:59 AM
lahoff.bsky.social
Also, Part 2 law was recently changed from requiring a patient consent form each time Part 2 data was shared to only requiring one consent form. Then the data can be exchanged as any other health data is.

I know because I helped write the law. Here's HHS' explanation.

www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-pr...
HHS fact sheet discussing major changes to the Part 2 rule. It states, "The final rule includes the following modifications to Part 2 that were proposed in the NPRM: Patient Consent • Allows a single consent for all future uses and disclosures for treatment, payment, and health care operations. • Allows HIPAA covered entities and business associates that receive records under this consent to redisclose the records in accordance with the HIPAA regulations."
July 15, 2025 at 12:59 AM
lahoff.bsky.social
It is deeply disappointing and disturbing to see the American Hospital Association (MIA, can't tag) back on this paternalistic bullshit of trying to get rid of one of the last real privacy protections for vulnerable populations: those with substance use disorder (SUD).

www.aha.org/lettercommen...
Excerpt from comments to HHS from the American Hospital Association, stating, "Eliminate 42 CFR Part 2 requirements that protect patient privacy under HIPAA but hinder care team access to important health information, specifically, separation of records pertaining to substance use disorder information."
July 15, 2025 at 12:59 AM
lahoff.bsky.social
Ugh on so many levels 😫

In addition to what @evangreer.bsky.social highlights in yellow, the agenda includes:

-Cut back on privacy protections/enforcement
-End efforts to minimize bias in AI (e.g., discrimination embedded in data sets)
-Investigate and prosecute collusion on advertiser boycotts
FTC Commissioner Andrew N. Ferguson will be a huge step back for progress in privacy law enforcement and ending bias and discrimination in AI.
December 11, 2024 at 12:21 AM
lahoff.bsky.social
Project Nimbus provides advanced cloud and AI capabilities to the Israeli government, to target civilians under pervasive surveillance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The surveillance has reportedly led to detentions killings and the systematic oppression of journalists, healthcare workers aid workers, and ordinary families.
December 9, 2024 at 8:47 PM
lahoff.bsky.social
Time to get travel shots so the cats can become las gatas! Someone has a reputation for being spicy, so she gets the gloved treatment. Happily, she was very well-behaved, even if disgusted by the process 😂
December 7, 2024 at 5:53 PM
lahoff.bsky.social
Not sure if this counts, but it's a poem I wrote in college about seeing my dad in hospice about to die of cancer when I was a young girl.
Poem text reads: Sharp indigo angles infect your room like worms creeping up on you at night, ruining dreams by crawling through sunken eyes. Your fall last night left a ripe grape bruise on your forehead: malignant cells of spiders beg to escape entrapment while pilled blankets cocoon you from dangerous floors. All that is left of you is a carcass of thin silver hair and a sharp needle piercing your arm to make the pain stop.
November 29, 2024 at 3:24 PM
lahoff.bsky.social
The training continues. A bit chillier than last time so we had to borrow her (big) little sister's sweater. She loves to be outside on a leash, but also surprisingly seems enjoy outside time in the carrier! Next step, a backpack walk around the neighborhood to get used to all kinds of new noises...
Small gray cat in a purple sweater exploring the inside of her cat backpack carrier while outdoors.
November 25, 2024 at 7:14 PM
lahoff.bsky.social
Naps are definitely important. Our ladies were sleepy and snuggly this weekend! #proofofcat
Small gray cat snuggled with human companion while napping Tabby cat getting comfy for a nap on human's chest
November 18, 2024 at 12:21 AM
lahoff.bsky.social
Be careful with your data, folks. #privacy #surveillance
“A second Trump administration could be disastrous for many of our most fundamental freedoms,” Toomey says. The administration may not even need to come up with a justification for surveilling Americans without a warrant, because it could simply purchase scores of people's personal data. The federal government has been known to purchase data from private brokers in the past, and doing so doesn’t require a warrant. “We are just awash in data, and data brokers can just collect and sell these data,” Vagle says. “Law enforcement or quasi-law enforcement can collect that information.” Surveillance can be done in secret so that the people being surveilled don’t realize they’re being surveilled, or it can be done openly as a way to stifle free expression, Vagle says. The government might tell you they’re keeping an eye on people, and then you might be less likely to speak out.
November 17, 2024 at 5:49 PM
lahoff.bsky.social
Trying to help our (indoor) #cats enjoy a beautiful autumn day from the comfort of their future trans-Atlantic transport backpacks. ✈️

(Also trying desperately to get them to associate the word "backpack" with fun adventures outside: birds! leaves! squirrel! 🤞🏼 More realistic #travel tips welcome!)
Picture of man throwing leaves in the air to entertain two cats sitting in mesh backpacks on a beautiful autumn day
November 13, 2024 at 12:31 AM