Lora Hines reports:
Community Hospital of San Bernardino has been fined a total of $325,000 for breaches of more than 200 patient records by two employees in 2009.
Community Hospital is one of five facilities statewide recently fined $675,000 for unauthorized access of nearly 230 medical records for more than 200 patients in violation of state law. The California Department of Public Health, the agency that regulates hospitals, is to discuss the fines today during an 11 a.m. news conference.
[…]
According to reports, an unidentified radiology technician accessed 204 records for 177 patients between Jan. 10, 2009, and Feb. 22, 2009, without having a clinical reason to do so. The investigation report doesn’t indicate whether the employee used the information she got or contacted the patients.
In a second investigation, inspectors found that a medical imaging department employee allowed a friend who was visiting her into a restricted access room where the employee worked. The visitor could overhear patients discuss their personal information with the employee, a report states.
Read more on PE.com
Note that this is not HHS fining the facilities for HIPAA violations; this is the state fining them.
Update: A post listing of all of the hospitals fined, with links to the state’s investigative reports, can be found here.