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. Large Provider Revises Patient Contact Process to Reflect Requests for Confidential Communications A violation due to willful neglect which is not corrected within thirty days will attract the maximum fine of $50,000. The HHS` Office of Civil Rights receives between 1,200 and 1,500 complaints and notifications of breaches per year. 2021 HIPAA Right of Access Enforcement Actions Other 2021 HIPAA Violation Penalties OCR intervened and closed the case but received a second complaint a year later alleging the records had still not been provided. MIE also settled a multi-state action with state attorneys general and paid a penalty of $900,000. Read More, Brigham and Womens 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. Read more, OCR investigated a breach reported by the Department of Veteran Affairs involving a business associate, Authentidate Holding Corporation. Lahey Hospital and Medical Center has agreed to pay $850,000 to settle the case without admission of liability. 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. Covered Entity: Private Practice Read More, For only the second time in its history, OCR has ordered a HIPAA-covered entity to pay civil monetary penalties for HIPAA violations. 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. A mother requested a copy of her sons medical records, but the records had not been provided three months after submitting the request. A violation that occurred despite reasonable vigilance can attract a fine of $1,000 $50,000. OCR determined the lack of encryption was in violation of the HIPAA Security Rule, there were insufficient device and media controls, and a business associate agreement had not been entered into with its parent company. The HIPAA Journal is the leading provider of news, updates, and independent advice for HIPAA compliance. 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. Read More, Phoenix, AZ-based Banner Health is one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States. 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. During OCRs investigation, the physician confirmed that the complainant was not given access to her medical record because of the outstanding balance. Sentara Hospitals reported the breach to OCR as having impacted 8 individuals. The settlement for HIPAA violations was reached with SEMC for violations that lead to a document sharing system data breach that exposed 498 records, and a data breach involving the theft of a flash drive containing unencrypted data of 595 patients. 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. 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, 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. 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 . While the amendment provisions of the Privacy Rule permit a covered entity to deny an individual's request for an amendment when the covered entity did not create that the portion of the record subject to the request for amendment, no similar provision limits individuals' rights to access their protected health information. State Hospital Sanctions Employees for Disclosing Patient's PHI OCR determined this breached the HIPAA Right of Access provision of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. CHCS will also pay a financial penalty of $650,000. 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. After OCR notified the entity of the allegation, the entity released the complainants medical records but also billed him $100.00 for a records review fee as well as an administrative fee. Mental Health Center Corrects Process for Providing Notice of Privacy Practices 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. 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. A settlement of $85,000 was agreed upon with OCR to resolve the HIPAA violation. 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. The case was settled for $65,000. Boston Medical Center agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations with OCR for $100,000. Corinne S Kennedy. The new procedures were instituted in Medicaid offices and independent health care programs under the jurisdiction of the municipal social service agency. Covered Entity: Private Practice Read More, Anchorage Community Mental Health Services (ACMHS) runs five mental health facilities in Alaska and is a non-profit organization. However, as violations of HIPAA are so severe, then CEs will choose to terminate the . Covered Entity: Health Care Provider / General Hospital Covered Entity: General Hospital Read More, Steven A. Porter, M.D.s gastroenterological practice in Ogden, UT reported a breach to OCR involving a medical record company that was blocking access to patients ePHI until a bill was paid. A number of patients were filmed, but consent had not been obtained. Breach News Covered Entity: Private Practices Nope. A case study involving one nursing education program's experience with a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violation is used to illustrate how one nursing. There may be a viable claim, in some cases, under state privacy laws. 4 . jQuery( document ).ready(function($) { The new procedures were incorporated into the standard staff privacy training, both as part of a refresher series and mandatory yearly compliance training. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. 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. The case was settled for $36,000. The case was contested, but an administrative law judge ruled in favor of OCR. Further, the covered entity counseled the supervisor about appropriate use of the medical information of a subordinate. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. To resolve the matter, OCR required the pharmacy chain and the law firm to enter into a business associate agreement. However, the court also legitimized private cause for action in HIPAA lawsuits, which could set a precedent for HIPAA related legal action. 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. Question: Dear Nancy, Can an RN lose his or her nursing license over a HIPAA violation? OCR settled the case for $240,000. A mental health center did not provide a notice of privacy practices (notice) to a father or his minor daughter, a patient at the center. Between 2005 and 2019, healthcare data breaches affected nearly 250 million people. Further information on the penalties for HIPAA violations are detailed here. Memorial Healthcare Systems has paid the penalty for non-compliance with HIPAA Rules, and in addition to the $5.5 million settlement, a robust corrective action plan must be adopted to address all areas of non-compliance. Private Practice Implements Safeguards for Waiting Rooms The consequences of violating HIPAA can be significant and it is important to note fines for a HIPAA violation can be applied by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) even if no breach of PHI has occurred. Read More, OCR announced that it has reached a settlement for $125,000 with a Denver-based healthcare provider, Cornell Pharmacy, following the improper disposal of patient health records. Issue: Impermissible Use. The case was settled for $2.175 million. OCR determined its compliance program had been in disarray for several years. 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. They split the fines and charges into two categories: reasonable cause and willful neglect. 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 case was settled for $15,000. OCR settled the case for $55,000. Employees also were trained to review registration information for patient contact directives regarding leaving messages. Paige. 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. Physician Revises Faxing Procedures to Safeguard PHI OCR investigated and identified longstanding, systemic noncompliance with the HIPAA Security Rule, including risk analysis and risk management failures, and the failure to provide security awareness training to employees. 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. Five Memphis healthcare workers charged with conspiracy, HIPAA violations. The maximum penalty for a single breach is $1.5 million per year. The chain acknowledged that log books contained protected health information and implemented the required changes. Covered Entity: Mental Health Center In fact, even a competent healthcare facility will experience minor HIPAA violation cases at some point. The penalties for a HIPAA violation are determined by the CE; HIPAA itself does not explicitly state what types of HIPAA violations will and will not result in the loss of a job. OCR investigated and found multiple potential HIPAA violations such as the failure to conduct a thorough risk analysis, risk management failures, and insufficient mechanisms to identify suspicious network activity. Read More, Athens Orthopedic Clinic PA in Georgia had its systems hacked in 2016. The PHI of 58,106 patients was improperly disposed of during that timeframe. OCR has increased its enforcement activities in recent years. It took 564 days from the initial request for all of the records to be provided to the patient. Operating as Agape Health Services, the company experienced a breach of the ePHI of 1,263 patients. Receive weekly HIPAA news directly via email, HIPAA News Read More, The settlement relates to the impermissible disclosure of the electronic protected health information of 2,209 patients in 2011. The incident for which the fine has been issued dates back to 2009 when a data security complaint was filed by a patient of one of its doctors. 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. The four categories range from unknowing violations to willful disregard of HIPAA rules. OCR settled the case for $3,500. 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. We've aggregated the ultimate list of reported celebrity HIPAA violations. A hospital employee's supervisor accessed, examined, and disclosed an employee's medical record. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $65,000. The 2020 increase is largely due to OCRs HIPAA Right of Access enforcement initiative, which was launched in late 2019. Talking about a patient in a public area where others can hear you is a HIPAA violation. QCA Health Plan has agreed to settle the HIPAA violations with OCR for $250,000. Initially, the pharmacy chain refused to acknowledge that the log books contained protected health information. 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. In April, nurses on the night shift at Denver Health Medical Center were caught making inappropriate comments about a male patient's genitalia, according to a report from the Colorado Department. Technical assistance had previously been provided by OCR, but devices had still not been encrypted. The records were provided on September 14, 2020. 0:04. For example, texting or calling a coworker to ask about a shared patient's case would be a HIPAA violation. 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 paperwork was taken by a member of the public who sold the material to a recycling facility. A state health sciences center disclosed protected health information to a complainant's employer without authorization. Copyright 2014-2023 HIPAA Journal. 3. Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has announced that Childrens Medical Center of Dallas has paid a civil monetary penalty of $3.2 million to resolve multiple HIPAA violations spanning several years. The infection resulted in the impermissible disclosure of the electronic protected health information of 1,670 individuals. The case was settled for $70,000. Case Examples by Issue. 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. 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.