nurse hipaa violation cases

The medical center had also failed to enter into a BAA with a business associate. September 05, 2017 - A Kentucky hospital was found to have acted lawfully when it fired a nurse for committing a HIPAA violation, according to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. OCR received a complaint from a patient who had not been provided with a copy of his medical records. Covered Entity: Private Practices 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. Covered Entity: Multi-Hospital Healthcare Provider 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 table above will be updated when the new penalty amounts for 2023 are finalized by the HHS. All staff was trained on the revised procedures. OCR settled the case for $240,000. Read More, Housing Works, Inc. is a New York City-based non-profit healthcare organization that provides healthcare, homeless services, and legal aid support for people affected by HIV/AIDS. Further, the covered entity's Privacy Officer and other representatives met with the patient and apologized, and followed the meeting with a written apology. The above penalties were implemented as demanded by the HITECH Act of 2009 and increase annually in line with inflation. Alternatively, financial penalties can be imposed if a breach of ePHI violates state laws. A settlement of $500,000 was agreed upon to resolve the alleged HIPAA violations. 0:04. Issue: Conditioning Compliance with the Privacy Rule. However, the patient was not covered by workers compensation and had not identified workers compensation as responsible for payment. Private Practice Revises Process to Provide Access to Records Regardless of Payment Source To remedy this situation, the private practice revised its policies and procedures regarding the disclosure of PHI and trained all physicians and staff members on the new policies and procedures. Health Specialists of Central Florida Inc. settled the case with OCR and paid a $20,000 penalty. Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures. Common HIPAA violations include verbal discussions of PHI in public areas of a healthcare facility, stolen laptops used in patient care, accessing PHI when the access is not directly related to or while providing care to a patient and, in this reader's case, placing a patient's healthcare document in the regular trash. A violation of HIPAA attributable to ignorance can attract a fine of $100 $50,000. Employees were trained to provide only the minimum necessary information in messages, and were given specific direction as to what information could be left in a message. The impermissible disclosures of PHI resulted in a $10,000 settlement. Issue: Access, Restrictions. Additionally, OCR required the covered entity to revise its Notice of Privacy Practices. The cost of employer HIPAA violations in the supreme court ranges from $100 to $50,000 based on a variety of factors, including: Whether or not there was malicious intent (civil vs. criminal penalties) The degree of negligence If a doctor violates HIPAA, including inadvertent disclosure If a breach occurred Read More, Anchorage Community Mental Health Services (ACMHS) runs five mental health facilities in Alaska and is a non-profit organization. Physician Revises Faxing Procedures to Safeguard PHI Talking about a patient in a public area where others can hear you is a HIPAA violation. After OCR intervened, the records were provided, but it took 22 months from the initial date of the request. OCRs investigation revealed periodic technical and non-technical evaluations of operational changes affecting the security of their electronic PHI had not been performed, procedures had not been implemented to verify the identity of individuals accessing their ePHI, there was a lack of ePHI safeguards, and Aetna had violated the minimum necessary standard. 3. This will have long-lasting ramifications. 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. The data breach exposed the Protected Health Information of 55,000 patients. 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. OCR received a complaint from a patient who had not been provided with her medical records after a 2-month wait. The acknowledgement form is now included in the intake package of forms. November 16, 2022. The privacy breaches occurred shortly after each other in 2013. 4) Loss or Theft of Devices. When notified of the complaint filed with OCR, the dental practice immediately removed the red AIDS sticker from the complainant's file. If an organization fails to take corrective action after having been issued a fine, the HHS Office of Civil Rights can impose subsequent fines. }); 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. HIPAA violation penalties are tiered based on the level of negligence determined by the Department of Health and Human Services or the state attorney general. Read More, OCR investigated three breaches involving the loss of a laptop computer and two unencrypted thumb drives containing patients PHI. A complaint alleged that an HMO impermissibly disclosed a member's PHI, when it sent her entire medical record to a disability insurance company without her authorization. Read more, In 2015, Excellus Health Plan reported a breach of the ePHI of 9,358,891 individuals. Covered Entity: General Hospital It took 5 months from the initial request for the complete set of medical records to be provided. Read More, OCR received a complaint from a patient of California-based Riverside Psychiatric Medical Group in March 2019 alleging he had not been provided with a copy of his medical records. Covered Entity: Outpatient Facility Read More, The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) imposed a $1.6 million civil monetary penalty (CMP) on Texas Health and Human Services Commission (TX HHSC) for multiple violations of HIPAA Rules discovered during the investigation of an exposed internal application containing ePHI. The four categories range from unknowing violations to willful disregard of HIPAA rules. Boston Medical Center agreed to settle the alleged HIPAA violations with OCR for $100,000. In more servers cases, or where multiple violations have occurred, the nurse may lose their job. Additionally, in order to prevent similar incidents, the hospital undertook a complete review of the distribution of the OR schedule. Pharmacy Chain Revises Process for Disclosures to Law Enforcement The device was not protected by a password and data on the device was not encrypted. Paige. Since HIPAA's enactment in 1996, we've witnessed almost 20 reported cases of unauthorized personnel looking up the medical records of celebrities. 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. During OCRs investigation, the physician confirmed that the complainant was not given access to her medical record because of the outstanding balance. The case was settled for $3 million. 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. The Board can report disciplinary actions to other agencies that oversee nursing licenses. Fresenius Medical Care North America settled the case for $3,500,000. Read more, Wake Health Medical Group, a Raleigh, NC-based provider of primary care and other health care services, failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. Jail Nursing: No Deliberate $("#wpforms-form-28602 .wpforms-submit-container").appendTo(".submit-placement"); > All Case Examples, Hospital Implements New Minimum Necessary Polices for Telephone Messages 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 2021 HIPAA Right of Access Enforcement Actions Other 2021 HIPAA Violation Penalties The maximum penalty for a single breach is $1.5 million per year. CHCS failed to perform a comprehensive risk analysis since September 23, 2013. In the first half of 2018, more than 56% of the 4.5 billion compromised data records were from social media incidents. The case was settled with OCR and a 23,000 financial penalty was imposed. 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. The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $10,000. Read More, Erie County Medical Center Corporation in Buffalo, NY, failed to provide a patient with timely access to his medical records. In addition, the employee who made the disclosure was counseled and given a written warning. OCR intervened but received a second complaint a month later when the records had still not been provided. Read More, For only the second time in its history, OCR has ordered a HIPAA-covered entity to pay civil monetary penalties for HIPAA violations. The employee responsible for the disclosure received a written disciplinary warning, and both the employee and the physician apologized to the patient. 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. 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. 8. OCR investigated Peachstate and uncovered multiple potential violations of the HIPAA Security Rule. OCR attempted to resolve the matter via informal means between November 6, 2015, to August 30, 2016, before issuing a Notice of Proposed Determination on September 30, 2016. 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. A nurse practitioner who has privileges at a multi-hospital health care system and who is part of the systems organized health care arrangement impermissibly accessed the medical records of her ex-husband. 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. 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, OCR launched an investigation of University of Rochester Medical Center following receipt of two breach reports concerning lost/stolen portable devices containing ePHI a flash drive and a laptop computer. 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. > For Professionals A patients rights under the Privacy Rule are not contingent on the patients agreement with a covered entity. OCR provided technical assistance and closed the case, but the records were still not provided. Read More, Fallbrook Family Health Center in Nebraska failed to provide a patient with timely access to the requested medical records. The case was settled for $1,040,000. Activities considered preparatory to research include: preparing a research protocol; developing a research hypothesis; and identifying prospective research participants. Covered Entity: Private Practices Health Sciences Center Revises Process to Prevent Unauthorized Disclosures to Employers Issue: Access. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required that the social service agency develop procedures for properly disclosing protected health information only to its valid business associates and to train its staff on the new processes. Read More, Washington, NC-based Metropolitan Community Health Services is a Federally Qualified Health Center. Serious violations, even if the intent is not malicious, are likely to result in disciplinary action. 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 The case was settled for $2.175 million. Large Health System Restricts Provider's Use of Patient Records Case Examples by Issue. The case was settled for $1,250,000. Breach News Covered Entity: Private Practice Private Practice Revises Access Procedure to Provide Access Despite an Outstanding Balance Unprotected storage of private health information can be an issue. Read More, Office for Civil Rights has issued a statement confirming that an agreement has been reached with Adult & Pediatric Dermatology, P.C., of Concord, Massachusetts following the accidental disclosure of approximately 2,200 patients after a memory stick was stolen from the car of one of the centers employees. St. Joseph Health has agreed to pay OCR $2,140,500. 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. Delivered via email so please ensure you enter your email address correctly. HIPAA Journal states that if a nurse violates HIPAA, it is important that the incident is reported to the person responsible for HIPAA compliance in your facility or your supervisor. And when data breaches like this occur, it's usually because of a HIPAA violation. 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. Corinne S Kennedy. Had software patches been installed on the computers the malware would not have been unable to infect the PCs. 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. 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. OCR intervened and closed the case but received a second complaint a month later when the records had still not been provided. 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. 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. 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. Among other actions taken to satisfactorily resolve this matter, the hospital took further disciplinary action with the nurse, which included: documenting the employee record with a memo of the incident; one year probation; referral for peer review; and further training on HIPAA Privacy. 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. The case was settled for $5,100,000. OCR imposed a civil monetary penalty of $100,000. The outpatient facility reportedly believed that such disclosures were permitted by the Privacy Rule. Issue: Safeguards. All rights reserved. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required that the pharmacy chain implement national policies and procedures to safeguard the log books. The revised policies are applicable to all individual stores in the pharmacy chain. Copyright 2014-2023 HIPAA Journal. Read More, Medical Informatics Engineering, an Indiana-based provider of electronic medical record software and services, experienced amajor data breachin 2015 at its NoMoreClipboard subsidiary. OCR determined there had been a failure to protect patient information which resulted in an impermissible disclosure of 2,150 patient records. The new procedures were incorporated into the standard staff privacy training, both as part of a refresher series and mandatory yearly compliance training. A contested hearing took place, and the board found the nurse: 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. A chain pharmacy disclosed protected health information to municipal law enforcement officials in a manner that did not conform to the provisions of the Privacy Rule. Covered Entity: Private Practice Washington, D.C. 20201 Toll Free Call Center: 1-800-368-1019 The HIPAA Right of Access violation was settled with OCR for $65,000. The case was settled for $38,000. A violation that occurred despite reasonable vigilance can attract a fine of $1,000 $50,000. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services The case was settled with OCR for $30,000. Under the revised policies and procedures, the practice may use and disclose PHI for research purposes, including recruitment, only if a valid authorization is obtained from each individual or if the covered entity obtains documentation that an alteration to or a waiver of the authorization requirement has been approved by an IRB or a Privacy Board. There are four tiers of HIPAA violation penalties for nurses, ranging from unknowing violations to willful neglect of HIPAA Rules. 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 . Read More, Family Dental Care, P.C. Read More, The solo dental practitioner in Butler, PA, failed to provide a patient with a copy of their medical record in a timely manner. HIPAA Advice, Email Never Shared HITECH News Covered Entity: General Hospital The case was settled for $1,500,000. 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.

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