renewals of licenses or APRN authorizations, or both. 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. Read More, Office for Civil Rights has announced a settlement of $1,215,780 has been reached with Affinity Health Plan, Inc., to resolve potential HIPAA violations discovered during a breach investigation. The case was settled for $3 million. An outpatient surgical facility disclosed a patient's protected health information (PHI) to a research entity for recruitment purposes without the patient's authorization or an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or privacy-board-approved waiver of authorization. Read More, OCR investigated a complaint about an impermissible disclosure of a patients PHI to a reporter. However, the patient was not covered by workers compensation and had not identified workers compensation as responsible for payment. Read More, Athens Orthopedic Clinic PA in Georgia had its systems hacked in 2016. QCA Health Plan has agreed to settle the HIPAA violations with OCR for $250,000. 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. OCR settled the case for $55,000. OCR settled the case for $50,000. The data breach exposed the Protected Health Information of 55,000 patients. Mental Health Center Provides Access and Revises Policies and Procedures Outpatient Surgical Facility Corrects Privacy Procedure in Research Recruitment For example, texting or calling a coworker to ask about a shared patient's case would be a HIPAA violation. The case was settled for $5,100,000. A New York City Hospital Is Investigating a Nurse for Sharing Video Footage With The Intercept Lillian Udell is being investigated for violating privacy laws after sharing video of nurses. Office for Civil Rights Headquarters. 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: The case was settled for $15,000. Health Specialists of Central Florida Inc. settled the case with OCR and paid a $20,000 penalty. Some cases also can result in imprisonment up to one year for a standard violation and imprisonment for up to five years for a violation committed under false pretenses. OCR investigated the incident and discovered risk analysis and risk management failures, insufficient information system activity logging and monitoring, missing business associate agreements, and employees had not been provided with HIPAA Privacy Rule training. 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. Among other actions taken to satisfactorily resolve this matter, the hospital took further disciplinary action with the nurse, which included: documenting the employee record with a memo of the incident; one year probation; referral for peer review; and further training on HIPAA Privacy. The investigation confirmed there had been a HIPAA Right of Access failure. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. Once the physician learned that he could not withhold access until payment was made, the physician provided the complainant a copy of her medical record. the practice settled the case with OCR for $80,000. Read More, MelroseWakefield Healthcare in Massachusetts received a valid request from a personal representative of a patient on June 12, 2020, but it took until October 20, 2020, for the requested records to be provided due to an error regarding the legality of the durable power of attorney. A settlement of $1,700,000 has been agreed upon with OCR to resolve the HIPAA violations that contributed to the cause of the breach. Covered Entity: General Hospital 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. Violations related to HIPAA laws have serious consequences, including job loss and other penalties. Read More, OCR received a complaint from a patient of NY Spine, a private New York medical practice, who alleged she had not been provided with a copy of the diagnostic films that she specifically requested. Content created by Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Content last reviewed December 23, 2022. A violation due to willful neglect which is corrected within thirty days will attract a fine of between $10,000 and $50,000. During the investigation, OCR discovered the business associate had acquired Peachstate, a CLIA-certified laboratory that provides clinical and genetic testing services. November 16, 2022. Issue: Conditioning Compliance with the Privacy Rule. When notified of the complaint filed with OCR, the dental practice immediately removed the red AIDS sticker from the complainant's file. Read more, Ridgewood, NJ-based Village Plastic Surgeryfailed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. The case was settled for $15,000. 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. Read More, OCR agreed to settle multiple alleged HIPAA violations with Cottage Health for $3,000,000. There may be a viable claim, in some cases, under state laws. 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. Covered Entity: Private Practice The case was settled with OCR for $30,000. 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 . Lahey Hospital and Medical Center has agreed to pay $850,000 to settle the case without admission of liability. Read More, Lawrence Bell, Jr. D.D.S in Maryland failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. MIE also settled a multi-state action with state attorneys general and paid a penalty of $900,000. Mental Health Center Corrects Process for Providing Notice of Privacy Practices The OCR investigation revealed a lack of business associate agreements, insufficient access rights, a risk analysis failure, a failure to respond to a security incident, a breach notification failure, media notification failure. New York and Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) and Columbia University (CU) will jointly pay a penalty of $4,800,000. Failure to report a violation could have serious consequences. However, up to 500 cases per year result in a fine and/or corrective action being required. Maybe PHI was in the background unknowingly. 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. In addition, the covered entity forwarded the complainant a complete copy of the medical record. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was ordered to pay a civil monetary penalty of $4,348,000. The pharmacy did not consider the customer's insurance card to be protected health information (PHI). In more servers cases, or where multiple violations have occurred, the nurse may lose their job. Copyright 2014-2023 HIPAA Journal. 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. "HIPAA applies to schools.". Read More, CHSPSC LLC isa Tennessee-based management companythat provides services to affiliates of Community Health Systems. 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. Read More, The city of New Haven in Connecticut was investigated over an incident where a former employee accessed its systems after termination and copied a file containing the ePHI of 498 individuals. The cost-of-living adjustment multiplier for 2023 is 1.07745, but this has not officially been applied by the HHS. Large Medicaid Plan Corrects Vulnerability that Resulted in Dsiclosure to Non-BA Vendors Nurse Pleads Guilty to HIPAA Violation A licensed practical nurse who pled guilty to wrongfully disclosing a patient's health information for personal gain faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine or both. The records were provided on September 14, 2020. 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 Paubox team exported all reported incidents from HHS's official Breach Portal from January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2019 and used the data to compile the following summary. Covered Entity: Private Practices Read More, OCR launched an investigation of University of Rochester Medical Center following receipt of two breach reports concerning lost/stolen portable devices containing ePHI a flash drive and a laptop computer. OCR settled the case for $20,000. A hospital employee did not observe minimum necessary requirements when she left a telephone message with the daughter of a patient that detailed both her medical condition and treatment plan. The practice trained all staff on the newly developed policies and procedures. The Center provided OCR with a valid authorization, signed by the complainant, permitting the release of information to the auto insurance company. Back to Top Enforcement Highlights and Numbers at a Glance Current Enforcement Highlights Enforcement Highlights Archived by Month An OCR investigation indicated that the form the HMO relied on to make the disclosure was not a valid authorization under the Privacy Rule. The impermissible disclosures of PHI resulted in a $10,000 settlement. 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. OCR intervened and provided technical assistance, but it took 16 months for the records to be provided. OCR required the covered entity to cease using the patient agreement that conditioned the entitys compliance with the Privacy Rule. Read More, Housing Works, Inc. is a New York City-based non-profit healthcare organization that provides healthcare, homeless services, and legal aid support for people affected by HIV/AIDS. Covered Entity: Health Plans 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. Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has agreed to a $650,000 settlement with University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass). An employee at a mid-size clinic was involved in a suit when an auto collision victim sued her spouse. The case was settled for $200,000. Covered Entity: Mental Health Center To resolve the issues in this case, the hospital developed and implemented several new procedures. If a nurse breaches HIPAA, a patient cannot sue the nurse directly for a HIPAA breach. OCR settled the case for $3,500. Covered Entity: Private Practice Issue: Impermissible Disclosure. 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. FileFax agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations for $100,000. 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. Read More, An investigation into Anthem Incs massive 78.8 million-record data breach of 2015 revealed multiple HIPAA violations. The disclosure was not consistent with documents approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). PHI had been intentionally provided to the media on three separate occasions. Read More, Family Dental Care, P.C. 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. Initially, the pharmacy chain refused to acknowledge that the log books contained protected health information. Criminal violations of HIPAA Rules are dealt with by the U.S. Department of Justice. As HIPAA violations are so severe, and may result in huge fines for Covered Entities, if . Read More, Following the report of the theft of a laptop from the Springfield Missouri Physical Therapy Center, Concentra Health Services was subjected to an investigation by the OCR. Issue: Impermissible Use. The following three years saw similar numbers of financial penalties; however, there was another major increase in HIPAA fines in 2020 when 19 HIPAA violation cases were settled with OCR. Clinic Sanctions Supervisor for Accessing Employee Medical Record 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. Delivered via email so please ensure you enter your email address correctly. When state laws are violated, the individuals whose ePHI has been compromised may be able to take legal action against the breached entity if it can be proven that an individual has suffered harm due to the negligence of a Covered Entity or Business Associate. The acknowledgement form is now included in the intake package of forms. 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. HIPAA violations don't just occur when a nurse posts something of their own accord. The case was settled for $2.175 million. The case was settled for $6,850,000. OCR issued a written analysis and a demand for compliance. Case Examples by Covered Entity. The case was settled for $70,000. The nurse in question sent out six text messages to warn the patient's girlfriend about his STD. Technical assistance had previously been provided by OCR, but devices had still not been encrypted. 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 . TTD Number: 1-800-537-7697, Content created by Office for Civil Rights (OCR), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, has sub items, about Compliance & Enforcement, has sub items, about Covered Entities & Business Associates, Other Administrative Simplification Rules. The investigation also indicated that the disclosures did not meet the Rules de-identification standard and therefore were not permissible without the individuals authorization. The default security settings were left in place, which allowed any individual with an Internet connection to gain access to the ePHI in the files. St. Joseph Health has agreed to pay OCR $2,140,500. Read More, Memorial Hermann Health System in Texas received five requests from a patient for complete records to be provided between June 2019 and January 2020. Issue: Safeguards. CHMC settled the HIPAA Right of Access case with OCR and paid an $80,000 penalty. By 2011, the UCLA Health System would agree to pay a fine of $865,000 to settle HIPAA privacy violations at its three hospitals. The Privacy Rule permits the imposition of a reasonable cost-based fee that includes only the cost of copying and postage and preparing an explanation or summary if agreed to by the individual. Read more, Renown Health, a not-for-profit healthcare network in Northern Nevada, failed to provide a patients attorney with a copy of her medical and billing records within 30 days. jQuery( document ).ready(function($) { The failure to cooperate with the investigation and respond to an administrative subpoena resulted in a civil monetary penalty of $50,000. Issue: Notice. A was charged with violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and with "conspiracy to wrongfully disclose individual health information for personal gain with maliciously harmful intent in a personal dispute." Her husband was charged with witness tampering. A settlement of $150,000 has been reached with OCR. Pharmacy Chain Enters into Business Associate Agreement with Law Firm The outpatient facility reportedly believed that such disclosures were permitted by the Privacy Rule. The hospital disciplined and retrained the employee who made the impermissible disclosure. Read More, New England Dermatology and Laser Center in Massachusetts disposed of empty specimen containers in regular dumpsters between February 4, 2011, and March 31, 2021.
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