Jimmy Lawton reports:
Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center says “breaches of patient information were discovered” during a recent internal investigation, but employees who purposefully committed the acts have been terminated.
CHMC spokeswoman Laura Shea said the hospital dealt with the breach immediately and took action required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which outlines protection and confidential handling of protected health information.
She said the hospital strives to educate its employees about patient privacy and called the breach unfortunate. She says the hospital has also enacted more safeguards to reduce the likelihood of future problems.
Shea said she could not disclose the number of employees who were involved or the number of people affected due to human resources requirements at the hospital. But she emphasized that following the investigation, the hospital terminated employment of individuals who accessed the records inappropriately.
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What kind of human resources requirements prohibit disclosure of the number of patients affected by a breach?