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Texas health system settles potential HIPAA violations for disclosing patient information

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Dissent

Okay, this seems a bit harsh in terms of monetary penalty. From another HHS/OCR settlement announced today:

Memorial Hermann Health System (MHHS) has agreed to pay $2.4 million to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and adopt a comprehensive corrective action plan to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. MHHS is a not-for-profit health system located in Southeast Texas, comprised of 16 hospitals and specialty services in the Greater Houston area.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) initiated a compliance review of MHHS based on multiple media reports suggesting that MHHS disclosed a patient’s protected health information (PHI) without an authorization. In September 2015, a patient at one of MHHS’s clinics presented an allegedly fraudulent identification card to office staff. The staff immediately alerted appropriate authorities of the incident, and the patient was arrested.  This disclosure of PHI to law enforcement was permitted under the HIPAA Rules.  However, MHHS subsequently published a press release concerning the incident in which MHHS senior management approved the impermissible disclosure of the patient’s PHI by adding the patient’s name in the title of the press release.  Also, MHHS failed to timely document the sanctioning of its workforce members for impermissibly disclosing the patient’s information.

In addition to a $2.4 million monetary settlement, a corrective action plan requires MHHS to update its policies and procedures on safeguarding PHI from impermissible uses and disclosures and to train its workforce members.  The corrective action plan also requires all MHHS facilities to attest to their understanding of permissible uses and disclosures of PHI, including disclosures to the media.

The resolution agreement and corrective action plan may be found on the OCR website at   http://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/compliance-enforcement/agreements/MHHS/index.html

Related posts:

  • HIPAA Security Rule Facility Access Controls – What are they and how do you implement them?
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  • HHS Office for Civil Rights Settles HIPAA Ransomware Cybersecurity Investigation for $90,000
  • HHS’ Office for Civil Rights Settles Malicious Insider Cybersecurity Investigation for $4.75 Million
Category: ExposureHealth DataU.S.

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