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HIPAA Compliant News Articles and Enforcement
Detroit Area Doctor Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for Health Care Fraud Scheme
A Detroit area hematologist-oncologist was sentenced today to serve 45 years in prison for his role in a health care fraud scheme that included administering medically unnecessary infusions or injections to 553 individual patients and submitting to Medicare and private insurance companies approximately $34 million in fraudulent claims. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of…
Read MoreClass Action Lawsuit Filed Against Medical Center for Data Breach
A class action lawsuit has been filed in the Kanawha Circuit Court against Charleston Area Medical Center, for a data breach that occurred between August 2013 and February 2014. The lawsuit has been filed by two plaintiffs who were patients of the medical center at the time of the data breach. Tiffany Mallion and Nickole…
Read MoreUCLA Hacked Up to 4.5 Million Patients and Hospital Staff Members Exposed
The University of California, Los Angeles Health System (UCLA) has reported it has been targeted by hackers who potentially accessed and copied a database containing the Protected Health Information (PHI) of up to 4.5 million patients and hospital staff members. The UCLA Health network consists of four hospitals: The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA…
Read MorePHI Falls From Sky At Women’s Soccer Parade
The U.S. Women’s World Cup Soccer champions toured NYC celebrating their historic win, and were treated to a shower of confetti, some of which appeared to be made from medical prescription records. One local resident noticed the confetti contained writing and upon closer inspection, realized it was Protected Health Information. The confetti was photographed and…
Read MoreStolen UCSF Laptops Contained PHI of Research Participants
The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has announced the burglary of a faculty member’s office involved the theft of a laptop computer contained the unencrypted, protected data of a number of individuals. The information included research and health information along with Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and medical insurance details. The burglary occurred in May,…
Read More3200 Medical Records Exposed by (now former) Employee of Orlando Health
On July 3, 2015, Orlando Health reported a (now former) employee illegally accessed the medical records of up to 3,200 patients while employed at the hospital. The data breach was discovered on May 27, 2015, although it took just over a month for breach notices to be issued. The healthcare provider started sending notifications to…
Read MoreFormer CFO Sentenced to 23 Months in Federal Prison for False Meaningful Use Claims
A former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has been sentenced to serve 23 months in federal prison after making false claims to receive payments under the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program. Joe White, 68, was the former CFO of Shelby Regional Medical Center and was responsible for overseeing the implementation of new Electronic Health…
Read MoreHealthcare Providers Seek Protection from HIPAA Breaches
Phishing, malware & direct attacks by hackers are on the increase and employees are abusing data access rights: Any organization required to collect, store or use Protected Health Information (PHI) is likely to suffer a data breach. It is just a matter of when that breach will occur. Even when healthcare providers abide by HIPAA…
Read MoreSeven Charged in North Texas As Part Of Largest National Medicare Fraud Takedown In History
USDOJ: US Attorney’s Office – Northern District of Texas North Texas Defendants Owned and Operated Home Health Companies DALLAS – Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced today a nationwide sweep led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in 17 districts, resulting in charges…
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