Pharmacy Chain Enters into Business Associate Agreement with Law Firm
Pharmacy Chain Enters into Business Associate Agreement with Law Firm
Covered Entity: Pharmacy Chain
Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Business Associates
A complaint alleged that a law firm working on behalf of a pharmacy
chain in an administrative proceeding impermissibly disclosed the PHI of
a customer of the pharmacy chain. OCR investigated the allegation and
found no evidence that the law firm had impermissibly disclosed the
customer’s PHI. However, the investigation revealed that the pharmacy
chain and the law firm had not entered into a Business Associate
Agreement, as required by the Privacy Rule to ensure that PHI is
appropriately safeguarded. Without a properly executed agreement, a
covered entity may not disclose PHI to its law firm. To resolve the
matter, OCR required the pharmacy chain and the law firm to enter into a
business associate agreement.
| Enforcement Actions Ensure Patients Receive Timely Access to their Records, at a Reasonable Cost Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of three investigations concerning potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule's patient right of access provision. These cases are part of a collective effort, bringing the total 41 cases, to drive compliance on right of access under the law. “These three right of access actions send an important message to dental practices of all sizes that are covered by the HIPAA ...read more |
| May a covered entity dispose of protected health information in dumpsters accessible by the public? For example, depending on the circumstances, proper disposal methods may include (but are not limited to): Shredding or otherwise destroying PHI in paper records so that the PHI is rendered essentially unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise cannot be reconstructed prior to it being placed in a dumpster or other trash receptacle.Maintaining PHI for disposal in a secure area and using a disposal vendor as a business associate to pick up and shred or otherwise destroy the PHI.In justifiable cases, based on the size and the ...read more |
| Enforcement Results as of September 30, 2022 Since the compliance date of the Privacy Rule in April 2003, OCR has received over 309,475 HIPAA complaints and has initiated over 1,053 compliance reviews. We have resolved ninety-seven percent of these cases (300,427). OCR has investigated and resolved over 29,779 cases by requiring changes in privacy practices and corrective actions by, or providing technical assistance to, HIPAA covered entities and their business associates. Corrective actions obtained by OCR from these entities have resulted in change that is systemic and that affects all the individuals they serve. OCR has successfully enforced the ...read more |
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