OCR received two complaints from patients in 2019 alleging they had to wait several months to receive a copy of their 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. That's almost an hour devoted to talking about someone else. After OCR intervened, the records were provided, but it took 22 months from the initial date of the request. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $160,000. Read More, Wise Psychiatry is a small provider of psychiatric services in Colorado. The trial court noted that HIPAA does not create a private right of action, but instead requires that violations be pursued via administrative channels (ie: by filing a complaint with HHS). OCR settled the case for $55,000. > Case Examples Issue: Access. To resolve this matter, OCR also required the practice to revise its policies and operating procedures and to move medical alert stickers to the inside cover of the records. Disciplinary action taken by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in 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. At minimum, the nurse who violated HIPAA will probably have to go on a training course to prevent further violations. A private practice failed to honor an individual's request for a complete copy of her minor son's medical record. The revised policies are applicable to all individual stores in the pharmacy chain. The Privacy Rule requires covered entities to provide individuals with access to their medical records; however, the Privacy Rule exempts psychotherapy notes from this requirement. Among other corrective actions to remedy this situation, OCR required that the hospital revise its subpoena processing procedures. 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. Covered Entity: Health Care Provider The financial penalties imposed by OCR in 2020 for HIPAA Right of Access violations ranged from $15,000 to $160,000 and stemmed from refusals to provide copies of records or long delays. Had software patches been installed on the computers the malware would not have been unable to infect the PCs. Top 15 Celebrity HIPAA Fails, Violations & Their Consequences OCR received a complaint from a patient who had not been provided with a copy of his medical records. Staff Nurse Faces Jail Time for HIPAA Violations Termination for Nurse HIPAA Violation Upheld by Court CHCS will also pay a financial penalty of $650,000. 1. 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. Covered Entity: General Hospital > For Professionals 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. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. The minimum fine is $100 per violation (up to $50,000) for Category 1 violations. Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced yesterday that the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) has agreed to settle alleged HIPAA violations and will pay a financial penalty of $2.75 million. 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: 8. The Ultimate List of Celebrity HIPAA Violations Etactics The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $70,000. Nurse Pleads Guilty to HIPAA Violation | NurseZone - American Mobile OCR determined this violated the HIPAA Right of Access provision of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. 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. To resolve this matter, the covered entity refunded the $100.00 records review fee., Hospital Issues Guidelines Regarding Disclosures to Avert Threats to Health or Safety 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. 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. 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. HIPAA violation compromises a patient and lands a nurse in hot water For example, any HIPAA form a patient signs needs to have a Right to Revoke clause. Issue: Minimum Necessary; Confidential Communications. Issue: Access, Authorization. . Failure to report a violation could have serious consequences. The above penalties were implemented as demanded by the HITECH Act of 2009 and increase annually in line with inflation. Read More, Bayfront Health St. Petersburg was investigated following receipt of a complaint from a patient on August 14, 2018. Advocate Health Care Network will pay a record $5.55 million to settle multiple potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. OCR discovered risk analysis failures, a lack of policies covering electronic devices, a lack of encryption or alternative safeguards, insufficient security policies, and insufficient physical safeguards, resulting in an impermissible disclosure of 521 individuals PHI. OCR received a complaint from a patient who had not been provided with her medical records after a 2-month wait. Issue: Safeguards. 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. However, the patient was not covered by workers compensation and had not identified workers compensation as responsible for payment. 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. HMORevises Process to Obtain Valid Authorizations Read more, Ridgewood, NJ-based Village Plastic Surgeryfailed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. 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. 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. In many cases, records were only provided after OCR intervened. Covered Entity: Pharmacies There are four tiers of HIPAA violation penalties for nurses, ranging from unknowing violations to willful neglect of HIPAA Rules. MIE also settled a multi-state action with state attorneys general and paid a penalty of $900,000. Read More, All Inclusive Medical Services, Inc. (AIMS) is a Carmichael, CA-based multi-specialty family medicine clinic. Without a properly executed agreement, a covered entity may not disclose PHI to its law firm. In 2014, hackers accessed its systems and stole the ePHI of 6,121,158 individuals. Read more, In 2015, Excellus Health Plan reported a breach of the ePHI of 9,358,891 individuals. All Case Examples | HHS.gov FileFax agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations for $100,000. What are the HIPAA Violation Penalties for Nurses? 4 . Read More, OCR launched an investigation into the Carroll County, GA ambulance company, West Georgia Ambulance, after being notified about the loss of an unencrypted laptop computer that contained the PHI of 500 patients. 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. 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. Read More, Lawrence Bell, Jr. D.D.S in Maryland failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. 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 case was settled for $65,000. One addressed the issue of minimum necessary information in telephone message content. The hospital disciplined and retrained the employee who made the impermissible disclosure. PHI had been intentionally provided to the media on three separate occasions. A municipal social service agency disclosed protected health information while processing Medicaid applications by sending consolidated data to computer vendors that were not business associates. Big Consequences for Nurses Violating HIPAA - Lamar - Online Programs 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. Read More, The city of New Haven in Connecticut was investigated over an incident where a former employee accessed its systems after termination and copied a file containing the ePHI of 498 individuals. HIPAA Fails Kim Kardashian In 2013, medical employees decided to "Keep Up With The Kardashians," and it cost them their jobs. An outpatient surgical facility disclosed a patient's protected health information (PHI) to a research entity for recruitment purposes without the patient's authorization or an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or privacy-board-approved waiver of authorization. An OCR investigation indicated that the form the HMO relied on to make the disclosure was not a valid authorization under the Privacy Rule. 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. Moreover, the entity was required to train of all staff on the revised policy. OCR intervened and provided technical assistance, but it took 16 months for the records to be provided. Covered Entity: General Hospitals Providence Health & Services. OCR settled the case for $240,000. 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. OCR intervened and closed the case but received a second complaint 6 months after the first stating the records had still not been provided. Read More. 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. Among other corrective action taken to resolve this issue, the Center provided the complainant with a copy of her records. The 2020 increase is largely due to OCRs HIPAA Right of Access enforcement initiative, which was launched in late 2019. The settlement resolves HIPAA violations that contributed to the university experiencing a malware infection in 2013. Public Hospital Corrects Impermissible Disclosure of PHI in Response to a Subpoena OCR determined the failure to terminate access rights when employment had ended was in violation of the HIPAA Security Rule. A violation of HIPAA attributable to ignorance can attract a fine of $100 - $50,000. In response, the hospital instituted a number of actions to achieve compliance with the Privacy Rule. 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. Boston Medical Center agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations with OCR for $100,000. National Pharmacy Chain Extends Protections for PHI on Insurance Cards was investigated by OCR in response to a complaint from a patient that she would be charged a fee of $170 for her medical records. So-mogye v. Toledo Clinic, 2012 WL 2191279 (N.D. Ohio, June 14, 2012). 7 Tips to Avoid a HIPAA Violation As a Nurse - ULM Online A violation due to willful neglect which is corrected within thirty days will attract a fine of between $10,000 and $50,000. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. The case was settled for $25,000. The. A penalty of $2.7 million will be paid by OHSU to settle alleged HIPAA violations without admission of liability. However, the court also legitimized private cause for action in HIPAA lawsuits, which could set a precedent for HIPAA related legal action. Talking about a patient in a public area where others can hear you is a HIPAA violation. Large Medicaid Plan Corrects Vulnerability that Resulted in Dsiclosure to Non-BA Vendors Fired after violating a patient's privacy - Clinical Advisor The case was settled for $202,400. OCR also determined that the Center denied the complainant's request for access because her therapists believed providing the records to her would likely cause her substantial harm. What happens if a nurse violates HIPAA? - HIPAA Guide The employee responsible for the disclosure received a written disciplinary warning, and both the employee and the physician apologized to the patient. However, as violations of HIPAA are so severe, then CEs will choose to terminate the . Read More, An article published in the LA Times started a sequence of events that has now resulted in Shasta Regional Medical Center (SRMC) agreeing to a settlement of $275,000 for its violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. OCR intervened and provided technical assistance on the HIPAA Right of Access but received a second complaint when the practice continued to deny him access. This will have long-lasting ramifications. Issue: Access, Restrictions. Covered Entity: Multi-Hospital Healthcare Provider 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.