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. If a nurse breaches HIPAA, a patient cannot sue the nurse directly for a HIPAA breach. 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. Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility State Hospital Sanctions Employees for Disclosing Patient's PHI The patient had requested a copy of her childs fetal heart monitor records, but 9 months after the request had been submitted the records still had not been provided. OCR provided technical assistance to the physician, explaining that, in general, the Privacy Rule requires that a covered entity provide an individual access to their medical record within 30 days of a request, regardless of whether or not the individual has a balance due. 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 2015, Premera discovered there had been a breach of the ePHI of 10,466,692 individuals. 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. OCR settled the case for $65,000. Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has sent another warning to HIPAA-covered entities about the need to obtain signed, HIPAA-compliant business associate agreements with all vendors prior to disclosing any protected health information. 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 Practice Data were accessed by unknown third parties after ePHI data was unwittingly transferred to a server accessible to the public. Entity Rescinds Improper Charges for Medical Record Copies to Reflect Reasonable, Cost-Based Fees 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. OCR intervened and closed the case but received a second complaint a month later when the records had still not been provided. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the covered entity to revise its policy. Physician Revises Faxing Procedures to Safeguard PHI OCR determined that there had been an impermissible disclosure of 34,883 patients ePHI due to a lack of encryption. Cornell Pharmacy is a single-location healthcare provider that mostly serves hospice care organizations in Denver and provides compound medications. In 2012 it suffered a security breach that exposed the data of 2,700 individuals as a result of a malware infection. Issue: Safeguards; Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Disclosures to Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. A complainant alleged that a private practice physician denied her access to her medical records, because the complainant had an outstanding balance for services the physician had provided. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, including mitigation of harm to the complainant, OCR required the Center to revise its procedures regarding patient authorization prior to release of protected health information to an employer. 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. Dentist Revises Process to Safeguard Medical Alert PHI For example, texting or calling a coworker to ask about a shared patient's case would be a HIPAA violation. OCR has increased its enforcement activities in recent years. Raleigh Orthopaedic has agreed to pay OCR $750,000 for failing to enter into a business associate agreement (BAA) with a vendor before handing over the protected health information (PHI) of 17,300 patients in 2013. The records were provided within days of OCR intervening. OCR determined there had been a risk analysis failure and the case was settled for $100,000. 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. > For Professionals 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. The acknowledgement form is now included in the intake package of forms. Another way to prevent HIPAA violations on social media is to get proper compliance training for your staff. The pharmacy did not consider the customer's insurance card to be protected health information (PHI). The settlement resolves HIPAA violations that contributed to the university experiencing a malware infection in 2013. There are four tiers of HIPAA violation penalties for nurses, ranging from unknowing violations to willful neglect of HIPAA Rules. 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. A pharmacy employee placed a customer's insurance card in another customer's prescription bag. ACMHS has agreed to settle the case with OCR for $150,000. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Safeguards. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OR for $75,000. Gossip is a casual conversation about other people which can be positive, neutral, or negative. 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. The nonprofit teaching hospital has also agreed to adopt the OCRs corrective action plan to address HIPAA-compliance issues discovered by OCR investigators. Read More, Elite Primary Care is a provider of primary health services in Georgia. OCR received a complaint from a patient who alleged he had been denied access to his medical records. OCR received a complaint from a patient who alleged AIMS refused to give her a copy of her medical records. 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, 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. OCR settled the case for $55,000. If not, the form is invalid and any information released to a third party would be in violation of HIPAA regulations. 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. 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. Read More, QCA Health Plan, Inc. of Arkansas reported the theft of a laptop from a car that contained unencrypted data on 148 patients. A number of patients were filmed, but consent had not been obtained. Covered Entity: Private Practices Issue: Safeguards. The case was settled for $15,000. 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. A violation that occurred despite reasonable vigilance can attract a fine of $1,000 $50,000. OCR provided technical assistance but received another complaint from the same patient that the records had still not been provided. Private Practice Revises Policies and Procedures Addressing Activities Preparatory to Research An OCR investigation also indicated that the confidential communications requirements were not followed, as the employee left the message at the patients home telephone number, despite the patients instructions to contact her through her work number. 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'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. District of Ohio dismissed her case. So-mogye v. Toledo Clinic, 2012 WL 2191279 (N.D. Ohio, June 14, 2012). An OCR investigation indicated that the form the HMO relied on to make the disclosure was not a valid authorization under the Privacy Rule. 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. However, as violations of HIPAA are so severe, then CEs will choose to terminate the . Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. 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. HIPAA Violations: Nurse Looked At Her Mother's, Sister's Charts, Termination Upheld. Providence Health & Services. While the Privacy Rule may permit the disclosure of an OR schedule containing PHI, in this case, a hospital employee shared the OR scheduled with the complainants supervisor, who was not part of the employee's treatment team, and did not need the information for payment, health care operations, or other permissible purposes. Under the revised process, if a subpoena is received that does not meet the requirements of the Privacy Rule, the information is not disclosed; instead, the hospital contacts the party seeking the subpoena and the requirements of the Privacy Rule are explained. Hospital Revises Email Distribution as a Result of a Disclosure to Persons Without a "Need to Know" Without a properly executed agreement, a covered entity may not disclose PHI to its law firm. On September 29, 2011, a portable USB storage device (pen drive) was left overnight in the IT Department from where it was stolen. OCR received a complaint from a patient alleging BILHBS had not provided a copy of her fathers medical records. 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(B). In 2013 and 2015, protections on servers were accidentally removed and files containing ePHI could be accessed over the internet without the need for a username or password. Examples of HIPAA Violations by Nurses The Board can report disciplinary actions to other agencies that oversee nursing licenses. 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. UMMC has also agreed to adopt a corrective action plan (CAP) to bring privacy and security standards up to the level required by HIPAA. }); 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. The ePHI of 62,500 patients was exposed. Read More, Fallbrook Family Health Center in Nebraska failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. The above penalties were implemented as demanded by the HITECH Act of 2009 and increase annually in line with inflation. It took 564 days from the initial request for all of the records to be provided to the patient. 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. During the investigation, OCR discovered the business associate had acquired Peachstate, a CLIA-certified laboratory that provides clinical and genetic testing services. The nurse in question sent out six text messages to warn the patient's girlfriend about his STD. Health Plan Corrects Computer Flaw that Caused Mailing of EOBs to Wrong Persons National Pharmacy Chain Extends Protections for PHI on Insurance Cards The minimum fine is $100 per violation (up to $50,000) for Category 1 violations. OCR intervened and closed the case but received a second complaint 6 months after the first stating the records had still not been provided. In the majority of cases, the agency resolves the complaints without the need for an investigation or finds no HIPAA violation exists. The four categories range from unknowing violations to willful disregard of HIPAA rules. Read More, Memorial Hermann Health System agreed to settle potential HIPAA Privacy Rule violations with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights for $2.4 million. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. $("#wpforms-form-28602 .wpforms-submit-container").appendTo(".submit-placement"); Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has announced it has settled potential HIPAA violations with Feinstein Institute for Medical Research for $3.9 million. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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