HIPAA has teeth.  On June 1, 2018, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ruled that the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center violated HIPAA.  In doing so, the ALJ granted the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) summary judgment, requiring the hospital to fork up the $4,348,000 in civil monetary penalties imposed by OCR. 
Continue Reading ALJ Judge Upholds OCR’s $4,348,000 Data Breach Penalty on Texas Hospital

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.
Continue Reading OCR Published Three HIPAA Settlements in Two Weeks, Signaling a Ramp Up of HIPAA Enforcement Activity