As an update on the firing of 16 employees of the Harris County Hospital District, KTRK in Houston reports that the employees were from different facilities: nine from Ben Taub, six from Northwest Community Center and one from Holly Hall.
And it seems that my hunch that it was a snooping violation was correct. KTRK reports:
Sources say the fired workers had checked out the medical record of Dr. Stephanie Wuest. Last month, Dr. Wuest was shot when a man tried to rob her.
HIPAA rules that the severity of the disciplinary action shall be according to the severity of the fault. Parameters are: Frequency (first time, is there a pattern, etc), Intention (accident, curiosity, personal profit) and Outcome (was the victim hurt physically, because of her treatment or lack thereof, or in her reputation). If this evaluation was not done because of the precipitation seeking public image, then this is wrong and HCHD is risking a lawsuit. If the evaluation was done and the employees were repeated offenders trying to access information and sell it for personal profit, then HCHD has a lot of work to do hiring personnel and educating them about HIPAA. In both cases, not good for HCHD.