750k Settlement For HIPAA Violations

It is worth to mention that HIPAA system breached because of some weakness which create a chance to breach it, such weakness according to Blumenthal (2007, p.2) represented with the following:

Health information technology can advance the health of individuals and aid with the performance of providers to produce and improve quality and cost savings in patients’ health. In 2009, Congress passed, and former President Obama signed into law the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Buntin, Burke, Hoaglin and Blumenthal, 2011). Authorized by the HITECH Act, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) has worked on health IT. The Health IT created legislation and regulations to provide requirements and certification criteria that the EHRs must meet to ensure health care

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in the year 1996. As a broad Congressional attempt at healthcare reform HIPAA was first introduced into Congress as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill named after two of its leading sponsors. The law has several different purposes that mainly focus on the protection of the healthcare provider and their patient depending on the circumstances and situations that may typically occur in a medical environment.

HIPAA requires providers to have policies and procedures that are in place that protect the patients security, privacy and confidentiality.

Now there are four categories of violations based upon the level of culpability involved in the breach. There are corresponding penalties for each category of violation with significantly increased minimum penalties. The maximum penalty amount of $1.5 million annually. As we have discussed in previous posts, the actual cost of violating HIPAA includes numerous other costs in addition to the penalty imposed by HHS. Those other costs include investigation costs, notice to patients, and the purchase identity protection coverage for the affected

When examining the case of the State of California against Dr Huping Zhou, we can conclude that the HIPAA law is a meaningful law set in place to protect patients’ privacy, and any one violating this law, regardless of your position in the health care field can be persecuted, punished for violating the law, even in the absence damages evidence resulting from the violation of the law. The purpose of this post is to discuss the case of the State of California against the physician, Dr Huping Zhou. In this post, I will review the HIPAA law, the penalties for violation of the law and why I feel that Doctor Zhou was very fortunate to receve the punishments four months in prison and just $2000 in fine.

Unfortunately HIPAA violations happen every year in our country. In fact, a situation happened in a New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center on May 7th 2010. The HIPAA violation happened after the electronic health records of 6,800 patients ended up on Google for the world to see. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who are responsible for HIPAA enforcement laws deeply investigated this case. It was discovered that a Columbia University physician who developed applications for New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University, attempted to deactivate a personally owned computer server on the network containing electronic protected health information (ePHI). Due to lack of technical

When entering a patient 's room, remember to close the door behind. If the door is left open, people walking by the room could possibly over hear the conversation. This could lead to a potential violation of HIPAA.

I agree with you, Dr. Zhou should have clear understanding of the HIPAA law, that is part of orientation practice for everyone who has access to patient information in the health care field. For Dr. Zhou to access the patient electronic records after his termination is very alarming. Everyone agrees that his plea deal of $2000 of fine and four months in prison was a lesser punishment than what he deserves. According the HIPAA law he could spent more than 10 years in prison for his action .What is your thoughts. Don’t you think UCLA should have been liable for failing to protect the patient information. While we can be pleased with many benefits that the electronic charting system and patient records keeping system have to offer, don’t you

If you work in healthcare, anywhere from a small medical office to a big hospital to an insurance company, you need to be in compliance with HIPAA. This is a long, complicated document and even big insurance companies struggle to keep the rules fresh in everyone 's mind and everyone on top of the most critical functions. Here are a few things to make sure you are doing right:

Under HIPAA, covered entities are under the obligation to follow the rules and regulations that the law enforces (Cleverly). Healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and business associates of the listed covered entities face fines and discipline if there is a HIPAA violation (Cleverly). The use or cause to be used of a unique health identifier, obtaining individually identifiable health information relating to an individual, or disclosing individually identifiable health information to another person are all criminal offenses under the HIPAA act (Cleverly). The consequences of violating HIPAA are stiff and severe. The violations are as follows after a conviction: the person will be fined no more than $50,000,and imprisonment will not be more than a year; however, if the violation is committed under false pretenses, the fine is no more than $100,000, imprisonment is no more than five years, or both; and if the violation is done with intent to sell, transfer, or use individually identifiable health information, for personal gain, commercial advantage, or malicious harm, the fine cannot be more than $250,000, imprisonment no more than ten years, or both (Cleverly). Under civil violations, the consequences are slightly different.

HIPAA is legislation that is mostly used in United States for the protection and privacy of the patient’s information. The medical information is protected by HIPAA whereby it ensures safe access to health and other personal information. HIPAA is therefore divided into five rules and regulations. There is private rule which ensures that all the information about individual’s health is highly protected. Private rule allows a good flow of health care information to ensure that an individual gets the best quality health care. Private rule permits the access of the important information while keeping top security and privacy of treatment details of the patient. Security rule is also a rule found in HIPAA whereby it has administrative and technical guards which are responsible in ensuring that there is confidentiality and integrity of the information which is stored electronically. Security rule also requires physical safeguarding to offer

They each are liable for nursing negligence in a civil court. Because they breached the standards of care by failing to render the degree of care, skill, and judgment exercised by a prudent nurse under the same circumstances (Westrick, 2014). Jeffery Chambers, RN had an established duty to care for Yolanda Pinnelas and breached the standard of care as he was the primary nurse assigned to the patient. Diana Smith, RN mentioned to Jeffery Chambers, RN that Yolanda Pinnelas IV infusion was beeping. However, he did not take the time to check the nature of the problem. Jeffery Chambers, RN worked a double shift the day before and was only able to get 6 hours of rest prior to returning to work which could have resulted in his fatigue. Also, Jeffery Chambers, RN unit was short staffed and he was managing several very sick patients. Per, The Institute of Medicine nurses that work greater than 12 hours in direct patient care, have an increased risk of patient errors (IOM, 2004). Carol Price LPN, by her own admission heard the infusion pump beeping several times and did not go in to check on the patient. Although she was not the primary nurse assigned to the patient, she was a nurse on the unit and therefore, had an established duty to care for Yolanda Pinnelas. She breached the standard of care by not

Nurses and doctors take the oath to protect the privacy and the confidentiality of patients. Patients and their medical conditions should not be discussed with anyone who is not treating the patient. Electronic health records are held to the same standards as nurses in that information is to be kept between, and shared only with the immediate care team. HIPAA violations are not taken lightly nor are the violation fines cheap. Depending on the violation, a hospital can be fined from $100 to $50,000 per violation (National Nurse 2011 p 23). The person who violated HIPAA faces termination, revocation of license and/or jail time depending on the severity of the

Technology has become an essential part of our everyday life therefore, it makes sense that doctors and hospitals get rid of the old fashioned paper charting and use technology to access patient records. Electronic health records (EHR) provide quick access to information, as doctors no longer have to wait for other providers to fax previous records to them. The accessibility of Electronic Health Records assist medical providers to make quick medical care decisions, by accessing previous care provided to patients including treatment and diagnosis. Quick access to information through EHR enables health care providers to treat patients faster as there is no need for records to be mailed or