Moreover, the entity was required to train of all staff on the revised policy. The office informed all its employees of the incident and counseled staff on proper faxing procedures. 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. 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 . The case was settled for $200,000. Read More, CHSPSC LLC isa Tennessee-based management companythat provides services to affiliates of Community Health Systems. Covered Entity: Private Practice 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. 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 . Issue: Impermissible Disclosure. 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. Read More, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) has agreed to settle a case with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights stemming from two data breaches experienced in 2013. The four categories range from unknowing violations to willful disregard of HIPAA rules. A number of patients were filmed, but consent had not been obtained. A state health sciences center disclosed protected health information to a complainant's employer without authorization. > All Case Examples, Hospital Implements New Minimum Necessary Polices for Telephone Messages The case was settled for $6,850,000. Documentation was uncovered that clearly showed that mobile devices were believed to represent a critical security risk, yet action was not taken to address this issue in time to prevent the data breach. Gossip is a casual conversation about other people which can be positive, neutral, or negative. The case was settled for $5,100,000. 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. Issue: Access. The claim included the patients test results. Read More, Great Expressions Dental Center of Georgia, P.C. OCR settled the case for $240,000. Covered Entity: Health Care Provider The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $30,000. Covered Entity: General Hospitals Read More. The privacy breaches occurred shortly after each other in 2013. 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. > HIPAA Compliance and Enforcement Read More, Beth Israel Lahey Health Behavioral Services (BILHBS) is the largest provider of mental health and substance use disorder services in eastern Massachusetts. Covered Entity: Pharmacies > Case Examples The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $5,000. Issue: Safeguards. When dealing with these complex issues, you need legal representation that has a long track record of success in these types of cases. In August 2012, Cancer Care Group discovered a laptop computer and unencrypted backup drive had been stolen from the vehicle of an employee. The diagnostic laboratory settled the case with OCR and paid a $16,500 financial penalty. Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility Read more, San Diego-based Sharp Healthcare, dba Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Centers, failed to provide a patients medical records to a patient-specified third party for more than 2 months. A pharmacy employee placed a customer's insurance card in another customer's prescription bag. 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. Cornell Pharmacy is a single-location healthcare provider that mostly serves hospice care organizations in Denver and provides compound medications. The outpatient facility reportedly believed that such disclosures were permitted by the Privacy Rule. Among the corrective actions required to resolve this case, OCR required the insurer to correct the flaw in its computer system, review all transactions for a six month period and correct all corrupted patient information. Content created by Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Content last reviewed December 23, 2022. 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. The acknowledgement form is now included in the intake package of forms. 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. Covered Entity: Health Plans Mental Health Center Corrects Process for Providing Notice of Privacy Practices In some severe cases, yes, nurses can lose their jobs if they violate HIPAA. OCR settled the case for $65,000. District of Ohio dismissed her case. Nurses may violate HIPAA if they use non-approved channels to transmit patient information. OCR stepped up enforcement of compliance with the HIPAA Rules in 2016, more than doubling the number of financial penalties. 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. Resolution Agreements. HMORevises Process to Obtain Valid Authorizations 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. Alternatively, financial penalties can be imposed if a breach of ePHI violates state laws. 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. Nurses HIPAA Violation Examples The list of potential HIPAA violations by nurses is long so the most commonly experienced nurse HIPAA violations are listed below: Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. A New York City Hospital Is Investigating a Nurse for Sharing Video Footage With The Intercept Lillian Udell is being investigated for violating privacy laws after sharing video of nurses. Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has announced it has reached a settlement with North Memorial Health Care of Minnesota over alleged HIPAA violations from a 2011 data breach. Health Sciences Center Revises Process to Prevent Unauthorized Disclosures to Employers Cancel Any Time. 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. Read More, An investigation into Anthem Incs massive 78.8 million-record data breach of 2015 revealed multiple HIPAA violations. The failure to cooperate with the investigation and respond to an administrative subpoena resulted in a civil monetary penalty of $50,000. 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. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. In some states, the amount of punitive damages awarded could far outweigh the maximum $1.5 million fine (per violation) that can be imposed by OCR. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required that the private practice revise its policies and procedures regarding access requests to reflect the individual's right of access regardless of payment source. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the covered entity to revise its policy. OCR intervened and closed the case but received a second complaint a year later alleging the records had still not been provided. Even posts that seem well-meaning can violate privacy and confidentiality. Private Practice Revises Process to Provide Access to Records A digital photocopier was returned to a leasing company, but the PHI stored on its hard drive had not been erased before the device was returned. Fines for "reasonable cause" violations range from $100 to $50,000. The Center for Childrens Digestive Health (CCDH); a small 7-center pediatric subspecialty practice based in Park Ridge, Illinois has agreed to pay OCR $31,000 to resolve potential HIPAA violations. Five Memphis healthcare workers charged with conspiracy, HIPAA violations. Washington, D.C. 20201 In nursing education, a HIPAA violation made by a nursing student could result in a variety of disciplinary actions including termination but is rarely discussed in nursing literature. A penalty of $2.7 million will be paid by OHSU to settle alleged HIPAA violations without admission of liability. Read more, Dr. Robert Glaser, a New Hyde Park, NY-based cardiovascular disease and internal medicine doctor, failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records after repeated requests. In 2014, hackers accessed its systems and stole the ePHI of 6,121,158 individuals. Health Specialists of Central Florida Inc. settled the case with OCR and paid a $20,000 penalty. OCR determined this breached the HIPAA Right of Access provision of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. OCR discovered risk analysis failures, risk management failures, a failure toconduct technical and non-technical evaluations following environmental or operational changes, and the disclosure of ePHI to a contractor without first entering into a business associate agreement. The cost-of-living adjustment multiplier for 2023 is 1.07745, but this has not officially been applied by the HHS. 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. The complainant alleged that a mental health center (the "Center") improperly provided her records to her auto insurance company and refused to provide her with a copy of her medical records. 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. Not necessary. In addition, the employee who made the disclosure was counseled and given a written warning. 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. Therefore, it . Covered Entity: Private Practice Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Business Associates. Covered Entity: Health Plans Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. For one violation, fines can range from $100-$50,000 for each instance of wrongdoing. OCR determined this breached the HIPAA Right of Access provision of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Covered Entity: Private Practices 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. 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. Read More, OCR agreed to settle multiple alleged HIPAA violations with Cottage Health for $3,000,000. Between 2005 and 2019, healthcare data breaches affected nearly 250 million people. Criminal violations of HIPAA Rules are dealt with by the U.S. Department of Justice. The OCR investigation revealed a lack of business associate agreements, insufficient access rights, a risk analysis failure, a failure to respond to a security incident, a breach notification failure, media notification failure. Below are details of 47 incidents since 2012 in which workers at nursing homes and assisted-living centers shared photos or videos of residents on social media networks. 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. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required this chain to revise its national policy regarding law enforcement's access to patient protected health information to comply with the Privacy Rule requirements, including that disclosures of protected health information to law enforcement only be made in response to written requests from law enforcement officials, unless state law requires otherwise. 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. in Chicago, Illinois, was investigated in response to a complaint from a patient who had only been provided with a partial copy of her requested medical records. Examples of HIPAA Violations by Nurses If a nurse violates HIPAA, a patient cannot sue the nurse for a HIPAA violation. Office for Civil Rights Headquarters. Read More, OCR investigated a complaint about an impermissible disclosure of a patients PHI to a reporter. Jail Nursing: No Deliberate 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. OCR settled the case for $50,000. CHCS failed to perform a comprehensive risk analysis since September 23, 2013. Read More, Aetna Life Insurance Company and the affiliated covered entity (Aetna) were investigated over three data breaches that exposed the ePHI of 18,489 individuals. 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. The directory contained files that included the protected health information (PHI) of 307,839 individuals. 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. Sentara Hospitals reported the breach to OCR as having impacted 8 individuals. 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. OCR provided technical assistance and closed the case, but the records were still not provided. The case was settled for $100,000. Another way to prevent HIPAA violations on social media is to get proper compliance training for your staff. A settlement of $500,000 was agreed upon to resolve the alleged HIPAA violations. 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. OCR determined there had been a risk analysis failure and the case was settled for $100,000. Covered Entity: General Hospital HIPAA Violations: Nurse Looked At Her Mother's, Sister's Charts, Termination Upheld. Radiologist Revises Process for Workers Compensation Disclosures The impermissible disclosures of PHI resulted in a $10,000 settlement. 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. Read More, Skagit County, Washington is paying the price for failing to implement the appropriate controls and safeguards to protect the data it held. 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. National Pharmacy Chain Extends Protections for PHI on Insurance Cards Failure to report a violation could have serious consequences. The data breach exposed the Protected Health Information of 55,000 patients. CHMC settled the HIPAA Right of Access case with OCR and paid an $80,000 penalty. 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. 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. }); 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.