The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), recently entered a $400,000 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) settlement with Metro Community Provider Network (MCPN), a federally-qualified health center (FQHC). The settlement serves as a stark reminder that all covered entities, including FQHCs, must meet the HIPAA Security Rule requirements and that OCR is continuing to step up enforcement efforts in this area. Continue reading
Category Archives: Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
First Ever HIPAA Enforcement Action for Delay in Breach Reporting
A delay in timely breach notification may now cost you. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently entered a settlement with Presence Health for untimely reporting a breach of unsecured protected health information (PHI). Presence discovered that its operating room schedules containing PHI for 836 individuals were missing on October 22, 2013. Under the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule, breaches like this which involve >500 individuals are required to be reported to the individuals, prominent media outlets and OCR without unreasonable delay and in no case later than 60 days. Presence did not report the breach to OCR until January 31, 2014, approximately 100 days after discovering the breach. OCR’s investigation concluded that Presence failed to notify, without unreasonable delay and within 60 days of discovering the breach, each of the 836 individuals, the media and OCR. Presence agreed to pay $475,000 to settle the potential violations.
The Press Release and Resolution Agreement are available on the OCR website.
Written by: Jacob Simpson
OCR Phase 2 HIPAA Audits Have Begun: Are you Ready?
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has started a second phase of audits for compliance with HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Standards. The OCR has previously conducted an audit pilot phase and Phase 1 audits of HIPAA covered entities (i.e., healthcare providers, clearinghouses, and health plans). In this Phase 2 of the HIPAA audits, OCR will audit both covered entities and their business associates. Continue reading
Physician Practice and Hospital Pay $750,000 and $1.5 Million for Failure to Have HIPAA Business Associate Agreements
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced two separate settlements with a hospital and a physician practice that highlight the importance of having HIPAA business associate agreements. Each of these HIPAA settlements were based on the failure to have a HIPAA business associate agreement in place with a third party that a hospital and a physician practice had disclosed patient’s healthcare information to perform certain administrative services. In each case, the third party recipients of patient electronic healthcare information committed or contributed to a breach under the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Continue reading
OCR Settlement with Physician Group Highlights Need For HIPAA Business Associate Agreements
This week, the OCR announced another HIPAA settlement based on a provider’s failure to have a Business Associate Agreement in place before disclosing PHI to a third party business vendor.
OCR had initiated an investigation of Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic, P.A. of North Carolina following receipt of a breach report which revealed a release of protected health information (PHI) without first having a business associate agreement (BAA) in place. Continue reading
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