Covered Entity: Health Care Provider OCR received a complaint from a patient who had not been provided with a copy of his medical records. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Authorizations. 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) has taken action against a Denver, CO-based federally-qualified health center (FQHC) for security management process failures that contributed to the organization experiencing a data breach in 2011. $("#wpforms-form-28602 .wpforms-submit-container").appendTo(".submit-placement"); Resolution Agreements. Data were accessed by unknown third parties after ePHI data was unwittingly transferred to a server accessible to the public. 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. the practice settled the case with OCR for $80,000. During OCRs investigation, the physician confirmed that the complainant was not given access to her medical record because of the outstanding balance. The nurse received the board notice for a hearing and the allegations against her, which involved breaching her duty to protect the patients' confidentiality and privacy rights in violation of the state's nurse practice act and administrative rules. A settlement was agreed upon with OCR that included a $25,000 penalty. Without a properly executed agreement, a covered entity may not disclose PHI to its law firm. 3. OCR also identified issues with the notice of privacy practices and there was no HIPAA privacy officer. OCR conducted an investigation into an incident involving a stolen laptop that contained the ePHI of 20,431 patients. Read More, Puerto Rico Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee Triple S Management Corporation has agreed to pay a HIPAA violation fine of $3.5 million to the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. Covered Entity: Private Practice 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. OCR investigated the allegation and found no evidence that the law firm had impermissibly disclosed the customers PHI. State Attorney Generals can also impose financial penalties on HIPAA-covered entities and business associates for violations of the HIPAA Rules. A private practice denied an individual access to his records on the basis that a portion of the individual's record was created by a physician not associated with the practice. Now add up that time for a week, a month, or even a year. 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. An organizations willingness to assist with an investigation is also taken into account. Covered Entity: Mental Health Center Read More, Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic, P.A., of North Carolina over alleged violations of HIPAA Rules. HIPAA violations are not uncommon. 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. Read More, Erie County Medical Center Corporation in Buffalo, NY, failed to provide a patient with timely access to his medical records. 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. 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. OCR also identified issues with the notice of privacy practices and a HIPAA privacy officer had not been appointed. Read More, Life Hope Labs, LLC, in Sandy Springs, Georgia, failed to provide an individual with the medical records of her deceased father in a timely manner. 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. 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. If not, the form is invalid and any information released to a third party would be in violation of HIPAA regulations. 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. 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 . For example, texting or calling a coworker to ask about a shared patient's case would be a HIPAA violation. Read More, In March 2019, OCR received a complaint from a patient who alleged she had not been provided with a copy of her medical records in the requested electronic format despite making repeated requests. Content created by Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Content last reviewed December 23, 2022. Read More, A patient submitted a complaint to OCR about an impermissible disclosure of PHI in a mailing. 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. Prison Time for Scheme to Frame Nurse for HIPAA Violations. Department of Justice is the authority that handles all the breach fines and charges for violating HIPAA regulations. A settlement of $85,000 was agreed upon with OCR to resolve the HIPAA violation. OCR settled the case for $55,000. renewals of licenses or APRN authorizations, or both. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Safeguards. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $5,000. CHMC settled the HIPAA Right of Access case with OCR and paid an $80,000 penalty. 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. 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 . Read More, Exposure of ePHI as a direct result of the failure to conduct a comprehensive risk analysis and a security assessment on a server prior to using it to share files containing ePHI. Private Practice Revises Access Procedure to Provide Access Despite an Outstanding Balance OCR provided technical assistance to the covered entity, explaining that the Privacy Rule permits a covered entity to provide a summary of patient records rather than the full record only if the requesting individual agrees in advance to such a summary or explanation. Covered Entity: Private Practice Health Sciences Center Revises Process to Prevent Unauthorized Disclosures to Employers The case was settled for $3 million. Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility OCR investigated the breach and discovered multiple violations of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. 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 $1,040,000. 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. OCR's investigation determined that a flaw in the health plan's computer system put the protected health information of approximately 2,000 families at risk of disclosure in violation of the Rule. The Phoenix, Arizona-based non-profit health system, Banner Health, experienced a hacking incident that resulted in the impermissible disclosure of the PHI of 2.81 million individuals in 2016. The HIPAA Journal is the leading provider of news, updates, and independent advice for HIPAA compliance. Over the past 12 months, the style and severity of threats have continuously evolved. 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. OCR settled the case for $65,000. Serious violations, even if the intent is not malicious, are likely to result in disciplinary action. A violation due to willful neglect which is corrected within thirty days will attract a fine of between $10,000 and $50,000. A staff member of a medical practice discussed HIV testing procedures with a patient in the waiting room, thereby disclosing PHI to several other individuals. Listed below are all the OCR HIPAA violation cases that have resulted in a financial penalty. This will have long-lasting ramifications. A doctor's office disclosed a patient's HIV status when the office mistakenly faxed medical records to the patient's place of employment instead of to the patient's new health care provider. In more servers cases, or where multiple violations have occurred, the nurse may lose their job. Hospital Revises Email Distribution as a Result of a Disclosure to Persons Without a "Need to Know" The PHI of 58,106 patients was improperly disposed of during that timeframe. CHCS also failed to implement appropriate security measures to address risks to ePHI in accordance with 45 C.F.R. St. Joseph Health has agreed to pay OCR $2,140,500. The table above will be updated when the new penalty amounts for 2023 are finalized by the HHS. Covered Entity: Private Practice Radiologist Revises Process for Workers Compensation Disclosures Covered Entity: Private Practices St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital Center Inc. has paid OCR $387,200 to resolve potential HIPAA violations discovered during an OCR investigation of a complaint about an impermissible disclosure of PHI. 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). In addition, the covered entity forwarded the complainant a complete copy of the medical record. OCR provided technical assistance but received another complaint from the same patient that the records had still not been provided. The case was settled for $200,000. Some of these were accidental. 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. The case was settled with OCR and a 23,000 financial penalty was imposed. Talking about a patient in a public area where others can hear you is a HIPAA violation. 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. There are four tiers of HIPAA violation penalties for nurses, ranging from unknowing violations to willful neglect of HIPAA Rules. A settlement of $85,000 was agreed upon to resolve the violation. 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. UMMC has also agreed to adopt a corrective action plan (CAP) to bring privacy and security standards up to the level required by HIPAA. Issue: Conditioning Compliance with the Privacy Rule. Educators worry about the confidentiality of all student information, particularly the data relied upon in developing and implementing IEPs and Section 504 plans, often on account of "HIPAA . Your Privacy Respected Please see HIPAA Journal privacy policy. The center also provided OCR with written assurance that all policy changes were brought to the attention of the staff involved in the daughters care and then disseminated to all staff affected by the policy change. The claim included the patients test results. A penalty of $2.7 million will be paid by OHSU to settle alleged HIPAA violations without admission of liability. The paperwork was taken by a member of the public who sold the material to a recycling facility. Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility However, up to 500 cases per year result in a fine and/or corrective action being required. OCR imposed a civil monetary penalty of $100,000. The case was settled for $202,400. A grocery store based pharmacy chain maintained pseudoephedrine log books containing protected health information in a manner so that individual protected health information was visible to the public at the pharmacy counter. HITECH News A study found that the average person spends about 52 minutes per day engaging in this type of conversation. 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. 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. 1. Read More, King MD is a small provider of psychiatric services in Virginia. 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. FileFax agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations for $100,000. 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. Covered Entity: Mental Health Center All Case Examples. If a nurse breaches HIPAA, a patient cannot sue the nurse directly for a HIPAA breach. Read more, The dental practice with offices in Charlotte and Monroe, NC, impermissibly disclosed a patients PHI on a webpage in response to a negative online review. 2021 HIPAA Right of Access Enforcement Actions Other 2021 HIPAA Violation Penalties OCR received a complaint from a patient who had not been provided with her medical records after a 2-month wait. 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. The doctor was retiring and received a delivery of 71 boxes of medical files containing up to 8,000 patient records; however, the delivery was made, and the boxes were left on the doctors driveway while he was out of the house. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate nurses' ability to evaluate ethical violations to hypothetical case studies involving social media use. HIPAA Advice, Email Never Shared At minimum, the nurse who violated HIPAA will probably have to go on a training course to prevent further violations. It took 225 days from the initial request for the records to be provided. 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. "HIPAA applies to schools.". Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the health insurer to train its staff on the applicable policies and procedures and to mitigate the harm to the individual. Providence Health & Services. At the direction of an insurance company that had requested an independent medical exam of an individual, a private medical practice denied the individual a copy of the medical records. A number of patients were filmed, but consent had not been obtained. Anthem agreed to a record-breaking settlement of $16,000,000 to resolve the case. MIE also settled a multi-state action with state attorneys general and paid a penalty of $900,000.