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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Hospital Fails to Terminate Former Employee’s Access to HIPAA-Protected Data

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A recent HIPAA enforcement action should serve as a reminder to healthcare organizations of the need to terminate an employee’s access to patients’ electronic protected health information (ePHI) immediately after that employee leaves the organization. The most recent action – the third within a month – involved Pagosa Springs Medical Center in Colorado. The critical…

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