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HIPAA Compliant News Articles and Enforcement
Lawsuit Highlights the Importance of Conducting Training on HIPAA Privacy Rules
On Monday this week, a case against University of Cincinnati Medical Center (UCMC) was heard by Judge Jody Luebbers in the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court regarding the posting of Protected Health Information of a patient on social media. The incident that triggered the lawsuit concerned the posting of a patient’s medical records by a…
Woman Sentenced to Nearly Eight Years in Prison for Healthcare Fraud
A Richmond Heights woman was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for operating an $18 million home healthcare fraud scheme, law enforcement officials said. Sharon Ward, 45, was sentenced to 94 months in prison and ordered to pay $18 million in restitution after previously being found guilty to healthcare fraud and aggravated identity theft.…
OIG Criticizes OCR for Lax Enforcement Standards and Poor Oversight of Covered Entities
Take a look at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights website and you will discover relatively few financial penalties have been issued for HIPAA Privacy violations. Even apparently serious violations of HIPAA Rules have not always resulted in financial penalties being issued. Out of the thousands of data breaches listed…
Data Breach Laws in California Updated
Data breach laws in California have been updated following the signing of three new bills by California Governor Jerry Brown. The new bills were passed as a single package, and will come into effect on January 1, 2016. The new bills – Assembly Bill 964 (A.B. 964), Senate Bill 570 (S.B. 570) and Senate Bill…
Medical Biller Sentenced to 45 Months in Prison for Health Care Fraud Scheme
The medical biller of a Chicago-area visiting physician practice was sentenced today to 45 months in prison for her role in a $4 million health care fraud scheme. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon of the Northern District of Illinois, Special Agent in Charge…
Former CVS Employee Steals PHI of 54K Molina Healthcare Members
A former employee of CVS, an Over-the-Counter benefits vendor contracted by Molina Healthcare, has been discovered to have stolen the Protected Health Information (PHI) of 54,203 current and former members of Molina Medicare Options Plus HMO SNP. The unnamed employee emailed data from a work computer to a personal email account on March 26, 2015,…
Dallas Anesthesiologist Indicted for Health Care Fraud
Dr. Richard Toussaint, a high profile Dallas anesthesiologist, has been indicted for health care fraud by a federal grand jury. Toussaint is a founder of Forest Park Medical Centers, a chain of for-profit hospitals. He is also a movie producer and philanthropist. Toussaint led medical missions to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, and to Honduras…
$750,000 HIPAA Settlement for a Stolen Laptop and Unencrypted Backup Media from an Employees Car
Cancer Care Group, P.C. agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Cancer Care paid $750,000 and will adopt a robust corrective action plan to correct deficiencies in…
Fake Hospice Nurse Sentenced to 48 Months in Federal Prison
DALLAS — A Dallas woman who stole the identity of a registered nurse and used that identity to work at several Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area hospice companies, where she saw and purportedly treated 243 hospice patients, was sentenced this morning, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas. Jada Necole Antoine, 34,…