Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility Read More, Presence Health, one of the largest healthcare networks serving residents of Illinois, has agreed to pay OCR $475,000 to settle potential HIPAA Breach Notification Rule violations. For example, texting or calling a coworker to ask about a shared patient's case would be a HIPAA violation. 2020-2021 HIPAA Violation Cases and Penalties - HIPAA Journal CHCS failed to perform a comprehensive risk analysis since September 23, 2013. $("#wpforms-form-28602 .wpforms-submit-container").appendTo(".submit-placement"); The Center did not, however, provide the complainant with the opportunity to have the denial reviewed, as required by the Privacy Rule. The practice trained all staff on the newly developed policies and procedures. Large Provider Revises Patient Contact Process to Reflect Requests for Confidential Communications Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. However, as violations of HIPAA are so severe, then CEs will choose to terminate the . Fresenius Medical Care North America settled the case for $3,500,000. Covered Entity: General Hospitals Covered Entity: Pharmacy Chain Health Specialists of Central Florida Inc. settled the case with OCR and paid a $20,000 penalty. 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 has increased its enforcement activities in recent years. A complaint alleged that an HMO impermissibly disclosed a members PHI, when it sent her entire medical record to a disability insurance company without her authorization. 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. Numbers at a Glance - Current | HHS.gov Court Holds Up Termination for Nurse HIPAA Violation The above penalties were implemented as demanded by the HITECH Act of 2009 and increase annually in line with inflation. Contrary to the Privacy Rule protections for information sought for administrative or judicial proceedings, the hospital failed to determine that reasonable efforts had been made to insure that the individual whose PHI was being sought received notice of the request and/or failed to receive satisfactory assurance that the party seeking the information made reasonable efforts to secure a qualified protective order. HITECH News
Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, the practice apologized to the patient and sanctioned the employee responsible for the incident; trained all billing and coding staff on appropriate insurance claims submission; and revised its policies and procedures to require a specific request from workers compensation carriers before submitting test results to them. 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. The pharmacy did not consider the customer's insurance card to be protected health information (PHI). OCR settled the case for $5,000. 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. 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. Issue: Impermissible Use and Disclosure. Other than stipulating training should be provided as necessary and appropriate for members of the workforce to carry out their functions (HIPAA Privacy Rule) and that CEs and BAs should implement a security awareness and training program for all members of the workforce (HIPAA Security Rule), there are no specific HIPAA training requirements. A private practice physician who was the principal investigator of a clinical research study disclosed a list of patients and diagnostic codes to a contract research organization to telephone patients for recruitment purposes. 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 . HIPAA violations are not uncommon. ACMHS has agreed to settle the case with OCR for $150,000. OCR discovered a risk analysis failure, the lack of a security awareness training program, and a failure to implement HIPAA Security Rule policies and procedures. OCR imposed a civil monetary penalty of $100,000. 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. Nancy Brent replies: Dear Paige: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountabilty Act requires that all covered entities (including nurses, whether they work in a hospital or other healthcare setting) protect against unauthorized disclosure of a patient's personally identifiable health information. Read More, An investigation into Anthem Incs massive 78.8 million-record data breach of 2015 revealed multiple HIPAA violations. The possibility of HIPAA lawsuits brought forth by patients and breach victims could change HIPAA enforcement. Alternatively, financial penalties can be imposed if a breach of ePHI violates state laws. All staff was trained on the revised procedures. OCR issued a written analysis and a demand for compliance. Issue: Access, A patient alleged that a covered entity failed to provide him access to his medical records. OCR determined the failure to terminate access rights when employment had ended was in violation of the HIPAA Security Rule. A settlement of $500,000 was agreed upon to resolve the alleged HIPAA violations. The case was settled for $70,000. HIPAA Violations: Nurse Looked At Her Mother's, Sister's Charts, Termination Upheld. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. HIPAA Lawsuits: The Vermont Supreme Court Ruling - Total HIPAA Compliance 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. 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. 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. To sign up for updates or to access your subscriber preferences, please enter your contact information below. The penalties for HIPAA violations through the OCR are as follows: Tier 1: Minimum fine of $100 per violation, up to $50,000 Tier 2: Minimum fine of $1,000 per violation, up to $50,000 Tier 3: Minimum fine of $10,000 per violation, up to $50,000 Tier 4: Minimum fine of $50,000 per violation HIPAA requires nurses and other health care professionals to report any violations they witness, even if they recognize it was accidental. The Notice of Enforcement Discretion only applied a cap to each violation tier. Read More, A $2.5 million settlement has been agreed upon with CardioNet to resolve potential HIPAA violations. The outpatient facility reportedly believed that such disclosures were permitted by the Privacy Rule. 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. Read more, Ridgewood, NJ-based Village Plastic Surgeryfailed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. Covered Entity: Health Care Provider The case was settled for $25,000. Reports can be filed either through internal channels or electronically through the Department of Health and Human Services. In more servers cases, or where multiple violations have occurred, the nurse may lose their job. 0:57. OCR investigated Peachstate and uncovered multiple potential violations of the HIPAA Security Rule. 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. A settlement of $85,000 was agreed upon to resolve the violation. 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 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. Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has fined New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) $2.2 million for allowing patients to be filmed for a TV show without obtaining prior permission from patients. Pharmacy Chain Institutes New Safeguards for PHI in Pseudoephedrine Log Books Presence Health took three months to issue breach notifications when the Breach Notification Rule requires notifications to be sent within 60 days of the discovery of a breach. OCR also found the Notice of Privacy Practices to be inadequate. The case was settled for $15,000. 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. Comments and replies to someone else's post, chat room gossip (even if it's a private room) or leaving a review on a site like Yelp opens the door for potential HIPAA violations. What are the HIPAA Violation Penalties for Nurses? Washington, D.C. 20201 Toll Free Call Center: 1-800-368-1019 If a nurse breaches HIPAA, a patient cannot sue the nurse directly for a HIPAA breach. Read More, WellPoint is one of the largest providers of Affiliated Health Plans, with almost 36 million policyholders across the United States. 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. The new procedures were incorporated into the standard staff privacy training, both as part of a refresher series and mandatory yearly compliance training. HIPAA violation compromises a patient and lands a nurse in hot water A settlement of $400,000 was agreed upon with OCR to resolve the HIPAA violations. Covered Entity: Health Care Provider / General Hospital Read More, OCR has announced a $5.5 million settlement had been reached with Florida-based Memorial Healthcare Systems to resolve potential Privacy Rule and Security Rule violations. 4) Loss or Theft of Devices. OCR also identified issues with the notice of privacy practices and there was no HIPAA privacy officer. The PHI of 58,106 patients was improperly disposed of during that timeframe. If not, the form is invalid and any information released to a third party would be in violation of HIPAA regulations. Read More. HIPAA Violations: 4 Common on Social Media Platforms - 99MGMT The case was settled for $100,000. The table above will be updated when the new penalty amounts for 2023 are finalized by the HHS. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. 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. Here are the top five misconceptions about FERPA and HIPAA that I regularly address in my work with schools. Read More, OCR investigated a complaint from a mother who requested a copy of her sons medical records from St. Josephs Hospital and Medical Center but had not been provided with a complete set of the records. The case was settled for $3,500. > For Professionals At minimum, the nurse who violated HIPAA will probably have to go on a training course to prevent further violations. Patient Sues Clinician for Privacy Violation After Practice Responds to