Pharmacy Chain Institutes New Safeguards for PHI in Pseudoephedrine Log Books Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has taken action against a Denver, CO-based federally-qualified health center (FQHC) for security management process failures that contributed to the organization experiencing a data breach in 2011. After the investigation, Ms D was informed that she was being terminated from her job based on her violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) for . CNE is required to pay a financial penalty of $400,000 and must adopt a comprehensive Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to address various areas of HIPAA non-compliance. Read More, Aetna Life Insurance Company and the affiliated covered entity (Aetna) were investigated over three data breaches that exposed the ePHI of 18,489 individuals. The minimum fines are $100 per violation for tier 1, $1,000 per violation for tier 2, $10,000 per violation for tier 3, and $50,000 per violation for tier 4. $("#wpforms-form-28602 .wpforms-submit-container").appendTo(".submit-placement"); North Memorial has agreed to pay $1,550,000 to OCR to settle the HIPAA violation charges. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $30,000. Issue: Safeguards, Minimum Necessary. Issue: Safeguards. A good example of this is a laptop that is stolen. 2021 HIPAA Right of Access Enforcement Actions Other 2021 HIPAA Violation Penalties The case was settled for $100,000. Issue: Access, Authorization. Read More, Office for Civil Rights has issued a statement confirming that an agreement has been reached with Adult & Pediatric Dermatology, P.C., of Concord, Massachusetts following the accidental disclosure of approximately 2,200 patients after a memory stick was stolen from the car of one of the centers employees. Read more, Ridgewood, NJ-based Village Plastic Surgeryfailed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. OCR provided technical assistance but received another complaint from the same patient that the records had still not been provided. The man sued the clinic, even though it had already dismissed the nurse from her job. After being notified by OCR about a proposed fine of $105,000, Dr. Brockley requested a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge, but settled out of court and agreed to a fine of $30,000. The case was settled and a financial penalty of $28,000 was paid. Employees were trained to provide only the minimum necessary information in messages, and were given specific direction as to what information could be left in a message. On September 29, 2011, a portable USB storage device (pen drive) was left overnight in the IT Department from where it was stolen. OCR settled the case for $20,000. There may be a viable claim, in some cases, under state privacy laws. Read More, Steven A. Porter, M.D.s gastroenterological practice in Ogden, UT reported a breach to OCR involving a medical record company that was blocking access to patients ePHI until a bill was paid. The HHS` Office of Civil Rights receives between 1,200 and 1,500 complaints and notifications of breaches per year. Large Health System Restricts Provider's Use of Patient Records November 16, 2022. Washington, D.C. 20201 Toll Free Call Center: 1-800-368-1019 Lincare Inc. is required to pay $239,800 for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule which were discovered during the investigation of a complaint about a breach of 278 patient records. Read More, Fallbrook Family Health Center in Nebraska failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. Read more, San Diego-based Sharp Healthcare, dba Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Centers, failed to provide a patients medical records to a patient-specified third party for more than 2 months. Large Provider Revises Patient Contact Process to Reflect Requests for Confidential Communications Covered Entity: Pharmacies A private practice physician who was the principal investigator of a clinical research study disclosed a list of patients and diagnostic codes to a contract research organization to telephone patients for recruitment purposes. The failure to cooperate with the investigation and respond to an administrative subpoena resulted in a civil monetary penalty of $50,000. > All Case Examples, Hospital Implements New Minimum Necessary Polices for Telephone Messages A physician practice requested that patients sign an agreement entitled Consent and Mutual Agreement to Maintain Privacy. The agreement prohibited the patient from directly or indirectly publishing or airing commentary about the physician, his expertise, and/or treatment in exchange for the physicians compliance with the Privacy Rule. OCR attempted to resolve the matter via informal means between November 6, 2015, to August 30, 2016, before issuing a Notice of Proposed Determination on September 30, 2016. In April 2019, OCR reexamined the HITECH Act and determined the language had been misinterpreted and issued a Notice of Enforcement Discretion stating the maximum annual penalties in each penalty tier would be changed to reflect the seriousness of the violations. Health care providers (persons and units) that provide, bill for and are paid for health care and transmit Protected Health Information (governs how individuals can use and disclose confidential patient information) in connection with certain transactions are required to comply with the privacy and security regulations established according to the Health Insurance Portability and . In case you aren't sure what I mean regarding judgment and professional boundaries: Nurses need to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Health Specialists of Central Florida Inc. settled the case with OCR and paid a $20,000 penalty. The device contained a range of patients ePHI, including full names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. The case was settled for $15,000. OCR settled the case for $55,000. HMORevises Process to Obtain Valid Authorizations Covered Entity: Pharmacy Chain Read More, The solo dental practitioner in Butler, PA, failed to provide a patient with a copy of their medical record in a timely manner. The device was not protected by a password and data on the device was not encrypted. Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility OCRs investigators identified a risk analysis failure, a lack of reviews of system activity, a failure to verify identity for access to PHI, and insufficient technical safeguards. Back to Top Enforcement Highlights and Numbers at a Glance Current Enforcement Highlights Enforcement Highlights Archived by Month Issue: Notice. A Nurse's Guide to the Use of Social Media discusses the case of a hospice nurse whose cancer patient had posted about her depression. Technical assistance had previously been provided by OCR, but devices had still not been encrypted. The private practice maintained that the disclosure to the contract research organization was permissible as a review preparatory to research. A staff member of a medical practice discussed HIV testing procedures with a patient in the waiting room, thereby disclosing PHI to several other individuals. One addressed the issue of minimum necessary information in telephone message content. That's almost an hour devoted to talking about someone else. A violation that occurred despite reasonable vigilance can attract a fine of $1,000 $50,000. Corinne S Kennedy. Issue: Safeguards. Metro Community Provider Network (MCPN) has agreed to pay OCR $400,000 and adopt a robust corrective action plan to resolve all HIPAA compliance issues identified during the OCR investigation. Violating HIPAA law can result in fines, job termination, loss of licensure, and criminal charges. OCR also identified issues with the notice of privacy practices and there was no HIPAA privacy officer. HIPAA Journal's goal is to assist HIPAA-covered entities achieve and maintain compliance with state and federal regulations governing the use, storage and disclosure of PHI and PII. Five Memphis healthcare workers charged with conspiracy, HIPAA violations. Memphis Commercial Appeal. Private Practice Revises Policies and Procedures Addressing Activities Preparatory to Research Violations related to HIPAA laws have serious consequences, including job loss and other penalties. Comments and replies to someone else's post, chat room gossip (even if it's a private room) or leaving a review on a site like Yelp opens the door for potential HIPAA violations. Office for Civil Rights Headquarters. An employee of a major health insurer impermissibly disclosed the protected health information of one of its members without following the insurer's authorization and verification procedures. To resolve this matter, the covered entity refunded the $100.00 records review fee., Hospital Issues Guidelines Regarding Disclosures to Avert Threats to Health or Safety The containers had labels that included the PHI of patients. OCR investigated the allegation and found no evidence that the law firm had impermissibly disclosed the customers PHI. Read More, On May 9, 2014, Touchstone Medical Imaging was informed by the FBI that one of its FTP servers was accessible over the Internet and allowed anonymous connections to a shared directory. Mental Health Center Corrects Process for Providing Notice of Privacy Practices The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $10,000. Settlements have previously been agreed upon with healthcare providers, health plans, and business associates of covered entities, but this is the first time OCR has settled potential HIPAA violations with a wireless health services provider. The above penalties were implemented as demanded by the HITECH Act of 2009 and increase annually in line with inflation. Failure to report a violation could have serious consequences. A municipal social service agency disclosed protected health information while processing Medicaid applications by sending consolidated data to computer vendors that were not business associates. Criminal violations of HIPAA Rules are dealt with by the U.S. Department of Justice. A nurse working at a clinic in New York became one of many HIPAA violation examples when her sister-in-law's boyfriend was diagnosed with an STD (sexually transmitted disease). Nancy Brent replies: Dear Paige: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountabilty Act requires that all covered entities (including nurses, whether they work in a hospital or other healthcare setting) protect against unauthorized disclosure of a patient's personally identifiable health information. The Center did not, however, provide the complainant with the opportunity to have the denial reviewed, as required by the Privacy Rule. Read more, Rainrock Treatment Center LLC (dba Monte Nido Rainrock), a Eugene, OR-based provider of residential eating disorder treatment services, failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records after repeated requests. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Authorizations. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the hospital to develop and implement a policy regarding disclosures related to serious threats to health and safety, and to train all members of the hospital staff on the new policy. Read More, A patient of University of Cincinnati Medical Center filed a complaint with OCR after not being provided with her requested records more than 13 weeks after submitting a request. Read More, Hillcrest Nursing and Rehabilitation in Massachusetts received a request from a parent for her sons medical records onMarch 22, 2020, but the records were not provided until October 10, 2020. Read More, Office for Civil Rights has agreed to its largest-ever financial penalty for a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Acts Privacy and Security Rules. OCR investigated and discovered similar privacy violations had occurred responding to patient reviews. A settlement of $85,000 was agreed upon with OCR to resolve the HIPAA violation. Read More, ACPM Podiatry in Illinois did not provide a former patient with his requested records, and despite the intervention of OCR, the patient was still not provided with the requested records due to the non-payment of a bill by the insurance company. Issue: Access. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required this chain to revise its national policy regarding law enforcement's access to patient protected health information to comply with the Privacy Rule requirements, including that disclosures of protected health information to law enforcement only be made in response to written requests from law enforcement officials, unless state law requires otherwise. Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) imposed a $1.6 million civil monetary penalty (CMP) on Texas Health and Human Services Commission (TX HHSC) for multiple violations of HIPAA Rules discovered during the investigation of an exposed internal application containing ePHI. If not, the form is invalid and any information released to a third party would be in violation of HIPAA regulations. Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility Read more, Arbour Hospital, a mental health clinic in Boston, MA, failed to provide a patient with the requested medical records within 30 days. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OR for $75,000. In 2014, hackers accessed its systems and stole the ePHI of 6,121,158 individuals. . Nurse Faced with Jail Time for Violating HIPAA Laws Without appropriate HIPAA training, this case of a HIPAA violation demonstrates how critical it is to train workers before there is an issue. A grocery store based pharmacy chain maintained pseudoephedrine log books containing protected health information in a manner so that individual protected health information was visible to the public at the pharmacy counter. Read More, The University of Washington Medicine has agreed to settle with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights and will pay a HIPAA fine of $750,000 for potential HIPAA violations stemming from a 90,000-record data breach suffered in 2013. Taking this into account, the figures OCR is working with are detailed in the table below and will apply indefinitely, until the next increase to account for inflation. Concentra has agreed to pay OCR $1,725,220 to resolve the case. 1. Read More, Mountlake Terrace, WA-based Premera Blue Cross is the largest health plan in the Pacific Northwest. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $32,150. By Jill McKeon. OCR settled the case for $22,500. The revised policy was implemented in the chains' stores nationwide. So-mogye v. Toledo Clinic, 2012 WL 2191279 (N.D. Ohio, June 14, 2012). Read More, OCR investigated three breaches involving the loss of a laptop computer and two unencrypted thumb drives containing patients PHI. Covered Entity: Private Practice Covered Entity: Private Practices The. Read More, Cancer Care Group, an Indiana-based radiation oncology private physician practice, has agreed to settle with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights for $750,000, for potential HIPAA violations relating to a 2012 data breach. Content created by Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Content last reviewed December 23, 2022. The complainant alleged that a mental health center (the "Center") improperly provided her records to her auto insurance company and refused to provide her with a copy of her medical records. An Accusation is a legal document formally charging a registered nurse with a violation (s) of the Nursing Practice Act, and notifying the public that a disciplinary action is pending against that nurse. OCR received a complaint from a patient who alleged AIMS refused to give her a copy of her medical records. The case was settled for $3,500. Read More, Anchorage Community Mental Health Services (ACMHS) runs five mental health facilities in Alaska and is a non-profit organization. An employee's medical record is protected by the Privacy Rule, even though employment records held by a covered entity in its role as employer are not. Read More, Bayfront Health St. Petersburg was investigated following receipt of a complaint from a patient on August 14, 2018. If an offense is committed under false pretenses, the criminal penalties increase to a maximum . An organizations prior history with regard to HIPAA non-compliance can also be a contributory factor in the calculation of penalties for HIPAA violations and therefore a second or subsequent fine will likely be much larger than the first. Read More, The settlement relates to the impermissible disclosure of the electronic protected health information of 2,209 patients in 2011. Issue: Impermissible Disclosure. Read More, An article published in the LA Times started a sequence of events that has now resulted in Shasta Regional Medical Center (SRMC) agreeing to a settlement of $275,000 for its violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. The new procedures were incorporated into the standard staff privacy training, both as part of a refresher series and mandatory yearly compliance training. Brigham and Womens Hospital agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations with OCR for $384,000. By increasing its enforcement activity, OCR is sending a message to all covered entities, large and small, that violations of HIPAA Rules will not be tolerated. OCR provided technical assistance and closed the case, but the records were still not provided. An ABC crew was permitted to film inside NYP facilities for the show NY Med featuring Dr. Mehmet Oz. jQuery( document ).ready(function($) { This discrepancy is expected to be addressed through further rulemaking to make the new penalty structure permanent. OCR received a complaint from a patient who had not been provided with a copy of his medical records. This case study involving one nursing education program's experience with a HIPAA violation illustrates how one nursing college dealt with a student's HIPAA . Read More, Puerto Rico Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee Triple S Management Corporation has agreed to pay a HIPAA violation fine of $3.5 million to the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. Covered Entity: Health Plans / HMOs A nurse in a New York clinic found herself at the center of an ugly HIPAA violation case when her sister-in-law's boyfriend was diagnosed with an STD. A settlement of $150,000 has been reached with OCR. Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced yesterday that the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) has agreed to settle alleged HIPAA violations and will pay a financial penalty of $2.75 million. OCR settled the case for $55,000. When dealing with these complex issues, you need legal representation that has a long track record of success in these types of cases. Read More, Coastal Ear, Nose, and Throat in Florida received a request from a patient for a copy of medical records on December 15, 2020, and again on January 8, 2021, but the records were not provided until May 20, 2021. These cases include civil monetary penalties, where it has been established that HIPAA Rules have been violated, and settlements, where HIPAA violations have been alleged to have occurred but the covered entity or business associate has decided not to contest the case and has instead chosen to pay a financial penalty to resolve the potential HIPAA violations with no admission of liability. In addition to corrective action taken under the Privacy Rule, the state attorney general's office entered into a monetary settlement agreement with the patient. During OCRs investigation, the physician confirmed that the complainant was not given access to her medical record because of the outstanding balance. Nurses who deliberately obtain or disclose individually identifiable protected health information can face a fine of up to $50,000 and a maximum of 12 months in jail. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. Covered Entity: Health Care Provider In response to OCRs investigation, the mental health center acknowledged that it had not provided the complainant and his daughter with a notice prior to her mental health evaluation. Read More, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences experienced a hacking incident that was reported to OCR in January 2018. Read More, OCR received a complaint from a patient of California-based Riverside Psychiatric Medical Group in March 2019 alleging he had not been provided with a copy of his medical records. The employee responsible for the disclosure received a written disciplinary warning, and both the employee and the physician apologized to the patient. The records were provided within days of OCR intervening. This was the case in 2019, when a number of healthcare professionals accessed a particular actor's medical records after the actor was part of a potential hoax hate-crime, which became headline news. OCR intervened and provided technical assistance on the HIPAA Right of Access but received a second complaint when the practice continued to deny him access. QCA Health Plan has agreed to settle the HIPAA violations with OCR for $250,000. OCR determined that there had been an impermissible disclosure of 34,883 patients ePHI due to a lack of encryption. Read more, OCR investigated a breach reported by the Department of Veteran Affairs involving a business associate, Authentidate Holding Corporation. The center also provided OCR with written assurance that all policy changes were brought to the attention of the staff involved in the daughters care and then disseminated to all staff affected by the policy change. To resolve this matter to the satisfaction of OCR, the hospital: retrained an entire Department with regard to the requirements of the Privacy Rule; provided additional specific training to staff members whose job duties included leaving messages for patients; and, revised the Departments patient privacy policy to clarify patient rights to accommodation of reasonable requests to receive communications of PHI by alternative means or at alternative locations. The case was settled for $200,000. Read More, In March 2019, OCR received a complaint from a patient who alleged she had not been provided with a copy of her medical records in the requested electronic format despite making repeated requests. OCR also determined that the Center denied the complainant's request for access because her therapists believed providing the records to her would likely cause her substantial harm. The privacy breaches occurred shortly after each other in 2013. Your Privacy Respected Please see HIPAA Journal privacy policy. An OCR investigation indicated that the form the HMO relied on to make the disclosure was not a valid authorization under the Privacy Rule. But violations are also quite serious. Under the Notice of Enforcement Discretion, the maximum annual penalty for a violation could be capped at $25,000 for tier 1, $100,000 for tier 2, and $250,000 for tier 3. In the majority of cases, the agency resolves the complaints without the need for an investigation or finds no HIPAA violation exists. The case was settled for $25,000. Issue: Access. Even posts that seem well-meaning can violate privacy and confidentiality. The paperwork was taken by a member of the public who sold the material to a recycling facility. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the outpatient facility to: revise its written policies and procedures regarding disclosures of PHI for research recruitment purposes to require valid written authorizations; retrain its entire staff on the new policies and procedures; log the disclosure of the patient's PHI for accounting purposes; and send the patient a letter apologizing for the impermissible disclosure. Covered Entity: Private Practices This will have long-lasting ramifications. The hacker stole data, attempted to extort money, and leaked the ePHI of 208,557 patients online when payment was not received. Read More, Complete P.T., Pool & Land Physical Therapy, Inc., (CPT) has agreed to pay a fine of $25,000 to the Department of Health and Human Services after the company posted photographs and names of patients on the client testimonial section of its website without first having obtained HIPAA-compliant authorizations from the patients in question. The first bar in the group of three per year represents the complaints closed in which there was no violation, the second in which there was corrective action, and the third reflects the total closures. In some states, the amount of punitive damages awarded could far outweigh the maximum $1.5 million fine (per violation) that can be imposed by OCR. Nurses HIPAA Violation Examples The list of potential HIPAA violations by nurses is long so the most commonly experienced nurse HIPAA violations are listed below: Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the covered entity to revise its policy. A settlement of $400,000 was agreed upon with OCR to resolve the HIPAA violations. The new authorization specifies what records and/or portions of the files will be disclosed and the respective authorization will be kept in the patients record, together with the disclosed information.
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