ORC Report to Congress: HIPAA Complaints Skyrocket

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Between 2017 and 2021, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) complaint violations rose 39 percent and large breaches reported increased 58 percent, according to a recent report from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to Congress. We have been writing about these complaints and settlements since 2019. OCR received 34,077 new HIPAAcomplaints alleging violations…

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Clinical Lab Settles HIPAA Violation Case

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A Georgia-based clinical laboratory recently agreed to pay $25,000 to The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule.   That rule establishes national standards to protect individuals’ electronic personal health information (PHI) that…

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Hospital Employees Fired for Celebrity Snooping

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You’ve heard the saying “curiosity killed the cat,†well in the case of dozens of hospital employees, curiosity may have killed their careers. Earlier this month, Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital fired dozens of employees who allegedly accessed the medical records of actor Jussie Smollett without authorization, according to numerous published reports. The Empire actor was…

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OCR Provides Update on HIPAA Enforcement Efforts

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The recent WannaCry ransomware attack impacting hospital and healthcare information systems worldwide shone a bright light on the vulnerabilities of most healthcare provider’s networks. But the problem extends far beyond this one case. In fact, there are near daily reports of patients’ private information being accessed due to a lack of appropriate security measures. And,…

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Why You Need a HIPAA-Compliant Business Associate Agreement

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The recent announcement by The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that it agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with The Center for Children’s Digestive Health (CCDH) should serve as a lesson to other healthcare organizations about the need to obtain signed,…

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HIPAA Compliance in 2017: The Heat is on

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The doctor-patient relationship has always involved a certain level of privacy. But over the years, the stakes for healthcare providers who violate patient privacy have increased exponentially. Barely two months into 2017 and already we are seeing increased activity. A newly released report from Protenus in conjunction with databreaches.net, January saw 31 healthcare data breaches…

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New Rule Makes it Easier to Share Substance Abuse Information While Protecting Privacy

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently finalized changes to federal regulations relating to the confidentiality of substance-use disorder patient records. Published in the Federal Register on January 18, the rule makes it easier to share the medical history of patients undergoing substance abuse treatment in federally funded drug and alcohol treatment programs,…

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