The firewall was inactive for a period of 10 months leaving the data exposed and potentially accessible to unauthorized third parties for an unacceptable period of time. The case was settled for $25,000. All staff was trained on the revised procedures. Read More, OCR investigated three breaches involving the loss of a laptop computer and two unencrypted thumb drives containing patients PHI. FileFax agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations for $100,000. A patient alleged that a general hospital disclosed protected health information when a hospital staff person left a message on the patients home phone answering machine, thereby failing to accommodate the patients request that communications of PHI be made only through her mobile or work phones. Covered Entity: Private Practice It took 564 days from the initial request for all of the records to be provided to the patient. Fresenius Medical Care North America settled the case for $3,500,000. 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. Covered Entity: General Hospital OCR settled the case for $55,000. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $70,000. Additionally, OCR required the covered entity to revise its Notice of Privacy Practices. The case was settled with OCR for $25,000. The man sued the clinic, even though it had already dismissed the nurse from her job. The failure to cooperate with the investigation and respond to an administrative subpoena resulted in a civil monetary penalty of $50,000. However, as violations of HIPAA are so severe, then CEs will choose to terminate the . In some severe cases, yes, nurses can lose their jobs if they violate HIPAA. The local newspaper then featured on its front page the individuals x-ray and an article that included the date of the accident, the location of the accident, the patients gender, a description of patients medical condition, and numerous quotes from the hospital about such unusual sporting accidents. Among other corrective action taken, the Center provided the complainant with a copy of her medical record and revised its policies and procedures to ensure that it provides timely access to all individuals. This usually happens when a celebrity checks into the hospital, but that's not always the case. The previous record was the $3.5 million settlement with Triple S Management Corporation agreed in November 2015. Read More, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) has agreed to settle a case with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights stemming from two data breaches experienced in 2013. It took 5 months from the initial request for the complete set of medical records to be provided. Read More, OCR fined Pagosa Springs Medical Center $111,400 for the failure to terminate a former employees access to a web-based scheduling calendar, which resulted in an impermissible disclosure of 557 patients ePHI. They split the fines and charges into two categories: reasonable cause and willful neglect. 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. Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility OCR settled the case for $240,000. All rights reserved. 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 . Public Hospital Corrects Impermissible Disclosure of PHI in Response to a Subpoena was investigated by OCR in response to a complaint from a patient that she would be charged a fee of $170 for her medical records. Covered Entity: Health Plans / HMOs Anthem agreed to a record-breaking settlement of $16,000,000 to resolve the case. Massachusetts General Hospital agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations with OCR for $515,000. A Georgia man has been sentenced to federal prison in an unusual case in which he portrayed himself as a whistleblower while falsely reporting to authorities that a hospital worker committed criminal HIPAA violations. 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. In 2017, Lifespan mentioned in a news release that someone broke into an employee vehicle and stole their work laptop. Issue: Safeguards. 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. Activities considered preparatory to research include: preparing a research protocol; developing a research hypothesis; and identifying prospective research participants. HIPAA Journal provides the most comprehensive coverage of HIPAA news anywhere online, in addition to independent advice about HIPAA compliance and the best practices to adopt to avoid data breaches, HIPAA violations and regulatory fines. OCR confirmed that PHI had been disclosed without an authorization from the patient and that there had been no sanctions against the physician responsible, despite being warned in advance not to disclose any PHI. Covered Entity: Private Practice An ABC crew was permitted to film inside NYP facilities for the show NY Med featuring Dr. Mehmet Oz. 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 penalties for HIPAA violations through the OCR are as follows: Tier 1: Minimum fine of $100 per violation, up to $50,000 Tier 2: Minimum fine of $1,000 per violation, up to $50,000 Tier 3: Minimum fine of $10,000 per violation, up to $50,000 Tier 4: Minimum fine of $50,000 per violation The practice trained all staff on the newly developed policies and procedures. Covered Entity: General Hospital HIPAA Journal states that if a nurse violates HIPAA, it is important that the incident is reported to the person responsible for HIPAA compliance in your facility or your supervisor. The case was settled for $100,000. The hacker stole data, attempted to extort money, and leaked the ePHI of 208,557 patients online when payment was not received. Hackers used a compromised username and password to gain access to a server that contained the protected health information (PHI) of 3.5 million individuals. After treating a patient injured in a rather unusual sporting accident, the hospital released to the local media, without the patients authorization, copies of the patients skull x-ray as well as a description of the complainants medical condition. OCR provided technical assistance but received another complaint from the same patient that the records had still not been provided. Honolulu-based Hawaii Pacific Health fired an employee in March after discovering the employee had inappropriately accessed patient medical records between November 2014 and January 2020. The possibility of HIPAA lawsuits brought forth by patients and breach victims could change HIPAA enforcement. OCR determined this fee to be unreasonable and that there had been a 15-month delay in providing the patient with the requested records. Issue: Notice. The case was settled for $15,000. The case was settled for $70,000. Violating HIPAA law can result in fines, job termination, loss of licensure, and criminal charges. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required that the social service agency develop procedures for properly disclosing protected health information only to its valid business associates and to train its staff on the new processes. OCR determined its compliance program had been in disarray for several years. OCR provided technical assistance and closed the case, but the records were still not provided. $("#wpforms-form-28602 .wpforms-submit-container").appendTo(".submit-placement"); 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. Read More, Anchorage Community Mental Health Services (ACMHS) runs five mental health facilities in Alaska and is a non-profit organization. Even posts that seem well-meaning can violate privacy and confidentiality. Reports can be filed either through internal channels or electronically through the Department of Health and Human Services. Read More, Southwest Surgical Associates in Texas took 13 months to provide a patient with all of the requested records between February 11, 2020, and March 5, 2021. To resolve this matter, OCR also required the practice to revise the office's fax cover page to underscore a confidential communication for the intended recipient. Contacting individuals to participate in a research study is a use or disclosure of protected health information (PHI) for recruitment, as it is part of the research and is not an activity preparatory to research. Read more, OCR investigated a breach reported by the Department of Veteran Affairs involving a business associate, Authentidate Holding Corporation. To resolve the issues in this case, the hospital developed and implemented several new procedures. > HIPAA Home Covered Entity: General Hospital MAPFRE has agreed to a $2,200,000 settlement with OCR. In response, the hospital instituted a number of actions to achieve compliance with the Privacy Rule. Covered Entity: Private Practice HIPAA violations don't just occur when a nurse posts something of their own accord. Issue: Safeguards; Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Disclosures to Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. The case was settled for $2,300,000. Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced a new HIPAA settlement to resolve violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Read more, The California-based psychiatric medical services provider failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records and charged an unreasonable fee when the records were eventually provided. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the provider to develop and implement policies and procedures regarding appropriate administrative and physical safeguards related to the communication of PHI. Covered Entity: General Hospital Concentra has agreed to pay OCR $1,725,220 to resolve the case. 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. PHI had been intentionally provided to the media on three separate occasions. HMORevises Process to Obtain Valid Authorizations A chain pharmacy disclosed protected health information to municipal law enforcement officials in a manner that did not conform to the provisions of the Privacy Rule. The nonprofit teaching hospital has also agreed to adopt the OCRs corrective action plan to address HIPAA-compliance issues discovered by OCR investigators. The case was settled for $62,500. OCRs investigation revealed periodic technical and non-technical evaluations of operational changes affecting the security of their electronic PHI had not been performed, procedures had not been implemented to verify the identity of individuals accessing their ePHI, there was a lack of ePHI safeguards, and Aetna had violated the minimum necessary standard. The data breach was caused when a computer server firewall was deactivated by a physician at Columbia University leaving electronic PHI exposed and accessible via search engines. The case was settled with OCR and a 23,000 financial penalty was imposed. Read More, A patient submitted a complaint to OCR about an impermissible disclosure of PHI in a mailing. The investigation revealed a failure to conduct an accurate risk analysis, noncompliance with the security incident response and reporting requirements of the HIPAA Security Rule, the failure to conduct an evaluation following changes that affected the security of ePHI, a lack of audit controls, breach notification delays, and the impermissible disclosure of the PHI of 279,865 individuals. In case you aren't sure what I mean regarding judgment and professional boundaries: Nurses need to avoid the appearance of impropriety. OCR found that the owner of the practice had responded to several reviews and disclosed ePHI, even disclosing the names of patients in the responses who had chosen to post reviews anonymously. Read More, Catholic Health Care Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has agreed to settle alleged HIPAA violations with the OCR and implement a Corrective Action Plan (CAP). The case was settled for $65,000. The Center for Childrens Digestive Health (CCDH); a small 7-center pediatric subspecialty practice based in Park Ridge, Illinois has agreed to pay OCR $31,000 to resolve potential HIPAA violations. Read More, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences experienced a hacking incident that was reported to OCR in January 2018. Read More, Massachusetts General Hospital was fined for allowing an ABC film crew to record footage of patients as part of the Boston Med TV series, without first obtaining consent from patients. Skagit County agreed to pay OCR $215,000 following the exposure of data of seven individuals. Although the Center gave the complainant the opportunity to review her medical record, this did not negate the Centers obligation to provide the complainant with a copy of her records. OCR's investigation confirmed that the use and disclosure of protected health information by the supervisor was not authorized by the employee and was not otherwise permitted by the Privacy Rule. To resolve this matter, the mental health center revised its intake assessment policy and procedures to specify that the notice will be provided and the clinician will attempt to obtain a signed acknowledgement of receipt of the notice prior to the intake assessment. In 2014, hackers accessed its systems and stole the ePHI of 6,121,158 individuals. Read More, OCR agreed to settle multiple alleged HIPAA violations with Cottage Health for $3,000,000. Lahey Hospital and Medical Center has agreed to pay $850,000 to settle the case without admission of liability. A complaint alleged that a law firm working on behalf of a pharmacy chain in an administrative proceeding impermissibly disclosed the PHI of a customer of the pharmacy chain. It did not change the maximum penalty for a violation, which means that the maximum penalty for a tier 1 violation is higher than the annual penalty cap, but for as long as the notice of enforcement discretion is in effect, the maximum penalty per year applies. The case was settled for $3 million. OCR imposed a civil monetary penalty of $100,000. Read More, OCR has announced a $5.5 million settlement had been reached with Florida-based Memorial Healthcare Systems to resolve potential Privacy Rule and Security Rule violations. Despite fluctuations in their nature, there. 6) Keep Thoughts to Yourself. Toll Free Call Center: 1-800-368-1019 Read More, Elite Primary Care is a provider of primary health services in Georgia. Covered Entity: Health Plans A public hospital, in response to a subpoena (not accompanied by a court order), impermissibly disclosed the protected health information (PHI) of one of its patients. > Case Examples 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. OCR determined there had been a risk analysis failure, access control failure, information system activity monitoring failure, and an impermissible disclosure of 6,617 patients ePHI. OCR received a complaint from a patient who alleged AIMS refused to give her a copy of her medical records. Issue: Safeguards. To sign up for updates or to access your subscriber preferences, please enter your contact information below. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Business Associates. The case was settled for $1,000,000. Read More, King MD is a small provider of psychiatric services in Virginia. OCR settled the case for $20,000. Hospital Revises Email Distribution as a Result of a Disclosure to Persons Without a "Need to Know" . Department of Justice is the authority that handles all the breach fines and charges for violating HIPAA regulations. OCR investigated and found the EHR company had been allowed access to ePHI without signing a business associate agreement and risk analysis and risk management failures. Read More, The Californian general dental practice, New Vision Dental, was investigated by OCR following reports about impermissible disclosures of patients protected health information on the review platform Yelp. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the covered entity to revise its policy. Detailed below is a summary of all HIPAA violation cases that have resulted in settlements with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR), including cases that have been pursued by OCR after potential HIPAA violations were discovered during data breach investigations, and investigations of complaints submitted by patients and healthcare employees. The trial court noted that HIPAA does not create a private right of action, but instead requires that violations be pursued via administrative channels (ie: by filing a complaint with HHS). A complaint alleged that an HMO impermissibly disclosed a member's PHI, when it sent her entire medical record to a disability insurance company without her authorization. Over the past 12 months, the style and severity of threats have continuously evolved. Covered Entity: Private Practice Allergy Associates of Hartford paid OCR $125,000 to settle the alleged HIPAA violations. Private Practice Revises Process to Provide Access to Records Five former Methodist employees have been indicted on charges . The case was settled for $6,850,000. The containers had labels that included the PHI of patients. There are four different HIPAA violation classifications which rank the level of an organizations willful neglect, and four penalty tiers depending on factors such as the length of time a violation was allowed to continue after being discovered, the number of people affected by the violation, and the nature of data exposed. Covered Entity: Private Practice }); Show Your Employer You Have Completed The Best HIPAA Compliance Training Available With ComplianceJunctions Certificate Of Completion, Learn about the top 10 HIPAA violations and the best way to prevent them, Avoid HIPAA violations due to misuse of social media, Losses to Phishing Attacks Increased by 76% in 2022, Biden Administration Announces New National Cybersecurity Strategy, Settlement Reached in Preferred Home Care Data Breach Lawsuit, BetterHelp Settlement Agreed with FTC to Resolve Health Data Privacy Violations, Amazon Completes Acquisition of OneMedical Amid Concern About Uses of Patient Data, Willful neglect (not corrected within 30 days. However, up to 500 cases per year result in a fine and/or corrective action being required. Washington, D.C. 20201 Toll Free Call Center: 1-800-368-1019 Further, the covered entity counseled the supervisor about appropriate use of the medical information of a subordinate. Below are details of 47 incidents since 2012 in which workers at nursing homes and assisted-living centers shared photos or videos of residents on social media networks. When you're discussing a patient's information on the phone, you need to be in a private place where others can't hear you. The settlement stems from an impermissible disclosure in a press release issued by MHHS in September 2015. Moreover, the entity was required to train of all staff on the revised policy. Issue: Minimum Necessary; Confidential Communications. When notified of the complaint filed with OCR, the dental practice immediately removed the red AIDS sticker from the complainant's file. A contested hearing took place, and the board found the nurse: Operating as Agape Health Services, the company experienced a breach of the ePHI of 1,263 patients. The cost-of-living adjustment multiplier for 2023 is 1.07745, but this has not officially been applied by the HHS. Read more, The Diabetes, Endocrinology & Lipidology Center, Inc, a West Virginia-based healthcare provider specializing in treating endocrine disorders, failed to provide a parent with a copy of her minor childs protected health information within 30 days. In 2016, 12 entities agreed to settle their compliance investigations and pay a financial penalty, with one case seeing civil monetary penalties imposed. QCA Health Plan has agreed to settle the HIPAA violations with OCR for $250,000. OCRs investigation revealed that the Center provided the complainant with an opportunity to review her medical record, including the psychotherapy notes, with her therapist, but the Center did not provide her with a copy of her records. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $30,000. Health Plan Corrects Computer Flaw that Caused Mailing of EOBs to Wrong Persons Among other corrective action taken to resolve this issue, the Center provided the complainant with a copy of her records. Read more, Renown Health, a not-for-profit healthcare network in Northern Nevada, failed to provide a patients attorney with a copy of her medical and billing records within 30 days. 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. 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. Read More, An OCR investigation into an impermissible disclosure of 9,255 individuals PHI by Advanced Care Hospitalists, a business associate of a HIPAA-covered entity, revealed serious HIPAA compliance failures including a lack of a BAA, insufficient security measures to protect ePHI, and no documentation showing there had been any HIPAA compliance efforts prior to April 1, 2014. It took multiple requests and almost 5 months for all of the requested medical records to be provided. Issue: Impermissible Disclosure-Research. HITECH News
Pharmacy Chain Revises Process for Disclosures to Law Enforcement If an organization fails to take corrective action after having been issued a fine, the HHS Office of Civil Rights can impose subsequent fines.