State Hospital Sanctions Employees for Disclosing Patient's PHI

State Hospital Sanctions Employees for Disclosing Patient's PHI
Covered Entity: Health Care Provider / General Hospital
Issue: Impermissible Disclosure

A nurse and an orderly at a state hospital discussed the HIV/AIDS status of a patient and the patient's spouse within earshot of other patients without making reasonable efforts to prevent the disclosure. Upon learning of the incident, the hospital placed both employees on leave; the orderly resigned his employment shortly thereafter. Among other actions taken to satisfactorily resolve this matter, the hospital took further disciplinary action with the nurse, which included: documenting the employee record with a memo of the incident; one year probation; referral for peer review; and further training on HIPAA Privacy. In addition to corrective action taken under the Privacy Rule, the state attorney general's office entered into a monetary settlement agreement with the patient.



Tuesday, November 1, 2022 Modernizing Medicine Inc. (ModMed), an electronic health record (EHR) technology vendor located in Boca Raton, Florida, has agreed to pay $45 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by accepting and providing unlawful remuneration in exchange for referrals and by causing its users to report inaccurate information in connection with claims for federal incentive payments. The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits anyone from offering or paying, directly or indirectly, any remuneration — which includes money or any other thing of value — to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, ...read more



Private Practice Revises Process to Provide Access to Records Covered Entity: Private Practices Issue: Access A private practice failed to honor an individual's request for a complete copy of her minor son's medical record. OCR's investigation determined that the private practice had relied on state regulations that permit a covered entity to provide a summary of the record. OCR provided technical assistance to the covered entity, explaining that the Privacy Rule permits a covered entity to provide a summary of patient records rather than the full record only if the requesting individual agrees in advance to such a summary ...read more



 TYLER, Texas — U.S. Attorney John M. Bales announced today that a former employee of an East Texas hospital has pleaded guilty to criminal HIPAA charges in the Eastern District of Texas. Joshua Hippler, 30, formerly of Longview, Texas, was indicted on March 26, 2014, on charges of Wrongful Disclosure of Individually Identifiable Health Information.  Hippler pleaded guilty on August 28, 2014 during a hearing before United States Magistrate Judge John D. Love.  The indictment alleged that from December 1, 2012, through January 14, 2013, Hippler, who was then an employee of a covered entity under HIPAA, obtained protected ...read more



A Covered Entity is: A health plan. An individual or group plan that provides, or pays the cost of, medical care. Health plans include private entities (e.g., health insurers and managed care organizations) and government organizations (e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, and the Veterans Health Administration) A health care provider. A provider of health care services and any other person or organization that furnishes, bills, or is paid for health care in the normal course of business. Health care providers (e.g., physicians, hospitals, and clinics) are covered entities if they transmit health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction ...read more

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1/21/25 Understanding Business Associate Agreements

11/12/22 Modernizing Medicine Agrees to Pay $45 Million to Resolve Allegations of Accepting and Paying Illegal Kickbacks and Causing False Claims

11/12/22 Indian National Charged in $8 Million COVID-19 Relief Fraud Scheme

11/12/22 Former Hospital Employee Pleads Guilty To Criminal HIPPA Charges

11/12/22 Covered entities and those persons rendered accountable by general principles of corporate criminal liability may be prosecuted directly under 42 U.S.C. § 1320d-6

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11/12/22 May a covered entity use or disclose protected health information for litigation?

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