Dentist Revises Process to Safeguard Medical Alert PHI OCRs investigation revealed that: the hospital distributed an Operating Room (OR) schedule to employees via email; the hospitals OR schedule contained information about the complainants upcoming surgery. A contested hearing took place, and the board found the nurse: The hospital disciplined and retrained the employee who made the impermissible disclosure. The case was settled for $2.175 million. Some of these were accidental. HIPAA Violations: 4 Common on Social Media Platforms - 99MGMT OCR determined this breached the HIPAA Right of Access provision of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. OCR intervened and closed the case but received a second complaint two months later when the records had still not been provided. OCR settled the case for $55,000. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $10,000. OCR provided technical assistance to the covered entity regarding the requirement that covered entities seeking to disclose PHI for research recruitment purposes must obtain either a valid patient authorization or an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or privacy-board-approved alteration to or waiver of authorization. OCR settled the case for $240,000. Covered Entity: General Hospitals 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. Issue: Notice. However, the investigation revealed that the pharmacy chain and the law firm had not entered into a Business Associate Agreement, as required by the Privacy Rule to ensure that PHI is appropriately safeguarded. The minimum fine is $100 per violation (up to $50,000) for Category 1 violations. 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. > For Professionals Read More, QCA Health Plan, Inc. of Arkansas reported the theft of a laptop from a car that contained unencrypted data on 148 patients. Here are the top five misconceptions about FERPA and HIPAA that I regularly address in my work with schools. Penalties for "willful neglect" violations can range from . Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Authorizations. Read More, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences experienced a hacking incident that was reported to OCR in January 2018. Court Holds Up Termination for Nurse HIPAA Violation OCR also determined there had been a risk analysis failure, a failure to implement Privacy Rule policies, and unique IDs had not been provided to all employees to track information system activity. A settlement of $150,000 has been reached with OCR. Read more, Childrens Hospital & Medical Center (CHMC), a pediatric care provider in Omaha, Nebraska, received a request from a parent for access to her daughters medical records but only provided part of the requested information, despite repeated requests. OCR determined that there had been an impermissible disclosure of 34,883 patients ePHI due to a lack of encryption. The case was settled for $15,000. The chain acknowledged that log books contained protected health information and implemented the required changes. Issue: Safeguards, Minimum Necessary. 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. Copyright 2014-2023 HIPAA Journal. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, the HMO created a new HIPAA-compliant authorization form and implemented a new policy that directs staff to obtain patient signatures on these forms before responding to any disclosure requests, even if patients bring in their own authorization form. Breach News 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. Read More, Lawrence Bell, Jr. D.D.S in Maryland failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. 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. Additionally, in order to prevent similar incidents, the hospital undertook a complete review of the distribution of the OR schedule. Delivered via email so please ensure you enter your email address correctly. Washington, D.C. 20201 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. A settlement of $400,000 was agreed upon with OCR to resolve the HIPAA violations. Failure to report a violation could have serious consequences. Receive weekly HIPAA news directly via email, HIPAA News The private practice maintained that the disclosure to the contract research organization was permissible as a review preparatory to research. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Blogs - Skyhigh Security The case was settled with OCR for $25,000. 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 . The case was ultimately unsuccessful; the court ruled in favor of the nurse. Social Media Posts Could Have Consequences for Your Career 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. Massachusetts General Hospital agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations with OCR for $515,000. The OCR investigation determined 577 patients had been affected, but Sentara Hospitals refused to update its breach notice to reflect the correct number of patients affected. Disciplinary Actions and Reinstatements - California The case was settled for $1,500,000. Issue: Safeguards. A patients rights under the Privacy Rule are not contingent on the patients agreement with a covered entity. HIPAA Horror Stories: 5 True HIPAA Violation Cases Read More, Anchorage Community Mental Health Services (ACMHS) runs five mental health facilities in Alaska and is a non-profit organization. Hospital workers disciplined for viewing patients' genitals | CNN This usually happens when a celebrity checks into the hospital, but that's not always the case. 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. Read more, The owner of the Fairhope, AL, dental practice impermissibly disclosed patients PHI to a campaign manager and a third-party marketing company in relation to a state senate election campaign. 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. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. Read More, A patient of Elite Dental Associates submitted a complaint to OCR stating her PHI had been disclosed by Elite Dental Associates in response to a review on Yelp. For one violation, fines can range from $100-$50,000 for each instance of wrongdoing. Read More, Danbury Psychiatric Consultants in Massachusetts received a request for medical records on March 24, 2020, but access to the records was refused due to an outstanding bill. In many cases, records were only provided after OCR intervened. Covered Entity: Private Practice CHCS will also pay a financial penalty of $650,000. The previous record was the $3.5 million settlement with Triple S Management Corporation agreed in November 2015. 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 directory contained files that included the protected health information (PHI) of 307,839 individuals. Since HIPAA's enactment in 1996, we've witnessed almost 20 reported cases of unauthorized personnel looking up the medical records of celebrities. The details come from . Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has announced it has arrived at a settlement with Care New England Health System (CNE) to resolve alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Talking about a patient in a public area where others can hear you is a HIPAA violation. 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. OCR also identified issues with the notice of privacy practices and there was no HIPAA privacy officer. OCR provided technical assistance but received another complaint from the same patient that the records had still not been provided. OCR also identified issues with the notice of privacy practices and a HIPAA privacy officer had not been appointed. Covered Entity: Private Practice OCR settled the case for $22,500. 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. 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. Read More, Great Expressions Dental Center of Georgia, P.C. 3. There are four tiers of HIPAA violation penalties for nurses, ranging from unknowing violations to willful neglect of HIPAA Rules. 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. Five Memphis healthcare workers charged with conspiracy, HIPAA violations. OCR investigated the allegation and found no evidence that the law firm had impermissibly disclosed the customers PHI. If not, the form is invalid and any information released to a third party would be in violation of HIPAA regulations. OCR determined there had been risk analysis failures, insufficient reviews of system activity, a failure to respond adequately to a detected breach, and insufficient technical controls to prevent unauthorized ePHI access. A study found that the average person spends about 52 minutes per day engaging in this type of conversation. Covered Entity: Health Plans / HMOs 0:57. Disastrous HIPAA Violation Cases | 7 Cases to Learn From Over the past 12 months, the style and severity of threats have continuously evolved. Issue: Impermissible Use and Disclosure, A complainant, who was both a patient and an employee of the hospital, alleged that her protected health information (PHI) was impermissibly disclosed to her supervisor. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, a letter of reprimand was placed in the supervisor's personnel file and the supervisor received additional training about the Privacy Rule. Issue: Conditioning Compliance with the Privacy Rule. However, the court also legitimized private cause for action in HIPAA lawsuits, which could set a precedent for HIPAA related legal action. An employee at a mid-size clinic was involved in a suit when an auto collision victim sued her spouse. HIPAA requires nurses and other health care professionals to report any violations they witness, even if they recognize it was accidental. Covered Entity: General Hospital Clinic Sanctions Supervisor for Accessing Employee Medical Record Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Authorizations. CardioNet is a Pennsylvania-based provider of remote mobile monitoring and rapid response services to patients at risk for cardiac arrhythmias. HIPAA Violations by Nurses In fact, even a competent healthcare facility will experience minor HIPAA violation cases at some point. The data breach investigation revealed a substandard security management process and a catalog of HIPAA Security Rule violations. In order to resolve this matter to OCRs satisfaction and to prevent a recurrence, the covered entity: terminated the nurse practitioners access to its electronic records system; reported the nurse practitioners conduct to the appropriate licensing authority; and, provided the nurse practitioner with remedial Privacy Rule training.
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