Providers Beware: OCR Published Three HIPAA Settlements in Two Weeks, Signaling a Ramp Up of HIPAA Enforcement Activity:
Make sure risk assessments, business associate agreements and policies & procedures are in place and up to date.
In a two week period, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published settlements with three different health care providers for violations of HIPAA. The settlements were not insignificant, ranging from $31,000 for a small physician practice, to $400,000 for a federally qualified health center (FQHC), to $2,500,000 for a wireless health services provider. Each of these violations and subsequent settlements should act as a cautionary tale to providers, both large and small, that they must continue to be vigilant in their HIPAA compliance efforts.
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