A single incident that may have started as a personal vendetta or an extortion threat seven years ago has cost a Florida health care system $800,000, and comes on the heels of an unrelated breach suffered by a different...more
6/18/2025
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Compliance ,
Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) ,
Covered Entities ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
HIPAA Violations ,
Hospitals ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Privacy Laws ,
Settlement ,
Settlement Agreements
In October, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) fined Providence Medical Institute (PMI) $240,000, an amount that reflected a 20% discount for having “recognized security practices” (RSPs) in place. But many more covered...more
5/12/2025
/ Business Associates ,
Compliance ,
Covered Entities ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Information Technologies ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
HIPAA Security Rule ,
OCR ,
Penalties ,
Privacy Laws ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Security and Privacy Controls ,
Trump Administration
Nearly six years to the day that Warby Parker reported a breach affecting nearly 200,000 individuals, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) imposed a $1.5 million fine on the eyewear giant. Investigated by OCR under the Biden...more
3/12/2025
/ Business Associates ,
Compliance ,
Covered Entities ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Privacy Laws ,
Trump Administration
The saga that led Children’s Hospital Colorado to accept a fine of more than $500,000 imposed by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) began on July 11, 2017, when a physician’s email account containing details on 3,300...more
2/7/2025
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Hospitals ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Privacy Laws ,
Risk Management
Recent federal enforcement actions have brought home the lesson that there’s really no acceptable reason for denying a patient timely access to medical records. Last year, for example, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR)...more
1/22/2025
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Compliance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Information Technology ,
OCR ,
Patient Privacy Rights ,
Privacy Laws ,
Privacy Rule ,
Ransomware ,
State Privacy Laws
Let’s review for a moment.
It’s not a HIPAA violation to be a victim of ransomware.
It’s not a HIPAA violation to pay a ransom.
It’s up to the covered entity (CE) to determine if a security or privacy incident is a...more
10/16/2024
/ Compliance ,
Covered Entities ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Investigations ,
OCR ,
Patients ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
Ransomware ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Settlement
United Healthcare Group (UHG) CEO Andrew Witty was in a board meeting on Feb. 21 when officials interrupted with the news that Change Healthcare—a clearinghouse UHG subsidiary Optum had purchased for $1.3 billion in October...more
5/13/2024
/ Business Associates ,
Covered Entities ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Hackers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Legislative Agendas ,
OCR ,
Patients ,
Personal Information ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements
Organizations typically deal with ransomware attacks out of the public eye, but the massive scale of United Healthcare Group’s (UHG) February breach made that an impossibility. UHG CEO Andrew Witty was recently on the hot...more
5/13/2024
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Medical Records ,
Patients ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
Ransomware
Although the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) described its recent $4.75 million agreement with a Bronx, New York, hospital as settling a “malicious insider cybersecurity investigation,” the agency considered a total of 11...more
3/12/2024
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Employees ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
HIPAA Security Rule ,
HIPAA Violations ,
Hospitals ,
Internal Investigations ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
Settlement
Report on Patient Privacy 23, no. 11 (November, 2023)
Tim DiBona clearly remembers Christmas Eve 2018 when the staff of his small firm—Doctors’ Management Service (DMS)—arrived at their West Bridgewater, Mass., office to...more
11/10/2023
/ Compliance ,
Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Management ,
Data Protection ,
Data Recovery ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Fines ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
OCR ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Management
Report on Patient Privacy 23, no. 10 (October, 2023)
By 2016, it should have been clear to HIPAA covered entities that a security risk analysis—and corresponding risk management plan—were compliance basics. Yet, a new...more
10/6/2023
/ Compliance ,
Covered Entities ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
OCR ,
Privacy Laws ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management
Five Years After ‘a Singular Human Error,’ Two Breach Notices, Revenue Firm Settles With OCR -
As far as settlements for alleged HIPAA violations go, a recent agreement announced by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR)...more
6/9/2023
/ Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
File Transfer Protocols (FTP) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HIPAA Violations ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Risk Assessment ,
Settlement ,
State Data Breach Notification Statutes ,
Subcontractors
Report on Patient Privacy Volume 22, Number 11. (November 2022)
Nearly five years passed from the time the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported to the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that three...more
11/14/2022
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HIPAA Violations ,
HITECH Act ,
OCR ,
Patient Privacy Rights ,
PHI ,
Statutory Penalties
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 9 (September, 2022) -
When recommending best practices, federal privacy and security officials stress that organizations need to follow their protected health information (PHI) wherever...more
9/12/2022
/ Business Associates ,
Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) ,
Covered Entities ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Improper Disposal ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Settlement Agreements
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 8 (August, 2022) -
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences’ (OSUCHS) breach might not have seemed all that serious at the time: No data is believed to have been misused,...more
8/16/2022
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Breach Costs ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
HIPAA Security Rule ,
HIPAA Violations ,
Medical Centers ,
OCR ,
Settlement Agreements
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 6 (June, 2022) -
Sometimes numbers tell the most compelling story. So, here are some associated with a cyberattack the University of Vermont Medical (UVM) Center suffered in October 2020...more
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 5 (May, 2022) -
Compared to other agencies, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a little fish in the big federal pond, but it has an outsize effect on HIPAA covered entities (CEs) and...more
5/6/2022
/ Business Associates ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) ,
Covered Entities ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fines ,
Funding ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Violations ,
HITECH Act ,
Injunctive Relief ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 3 (March, 2022) -
Typically a “legacy” describes the lasting impact of an influential person or movement, most often in a positive sense. Not so with medical devices. When legacy is applied...more
3/14/2022
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Health Technology ,
Hospitals ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Medical Devices ,
PHI ,
Physicians ,
Popular
Report on Patient Privacy 22, no. 2 (February, 2022) -
The new national health information network calls for a number of privacy and security safeguards and standards that, in some instances, exceed what HIPAA covered...more
2/14/2022
/ Audits ,
Business Associates ,
Certifications ,
Covered Entities ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Mobile Apps ,
Notification Requirements ,
PHI ,
Popular
Report on Patient Privacy 21, no. 11 (November, 2021) -
Attorney Brad Hammer doesn’t always don a suit and tie, or what he calls his “lawyer’s uniform.” A privacy and security expert and founder of the Vakaris Group based...more
11/15/2021
/ Business Associates ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Covered Entities ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Health Care Providers ,
Information Security ,
Information Technology ,
Phishing Scams ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Training
Report on Patient Privacy 21, no. 10 (October, 2021) -
Conducting a risk analysis is a basic tenet of security compliance, with the overarching goal of understanding where protected health information (PHI) “lives” in an...more
10/15/2021
/ Business Associates ,
China ,
Covered Entities ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Due Diligence ,
FBI ,
Hackers ,
Health Care Providers ,
National Security ,
PHI ,
Physicians ,
Risk Mitigation
Report on Patient Privacy 21, no. 5 (May 2021) -
Given the hundreds of thousands of HIPAA covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) and the two dozen or so enforcement actions the HHS Office for Civil Rights...more
5/7/2021
/ Business Associates ,
Cooperation ,
Covered Entities ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure to Notify ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
Investigations ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Popular
Report on Patient Privacy 21, no. 3 (March 2021) -
Sometime during the fall, a worker for a subcontractor of Humana Inc. decided to share actual member information from medical records via a Google document with people he...more
3/25/2021
/ Business Associates ,
Business Associates Agreement (BAA) ,
Compliance ,
Covered Entities ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Medical Records ,
Notice Requirements ,
OCR ,
Patient Privacy Rights ,
PHI ,
Subcontractors
Report on Patient Privacy 21, no. 2 (February 2021) -
Unless an extension is granted or the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) is withdrawn, covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) have until late March to...more
2/26/2021
/ Business Associates ,
Comment Period ,
Covered Entities ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
HIPAA Violations ,
Medical Records ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
OCR ,
Right of Access ,
Settlement Agreements
Report on Patient Privacy 20, no. 12 (December 10, 2020) -
Transparency and contrition are two qualities that HIPAA officials at covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) might want to think about expressing...more