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HIPAA Compliant News Articles and Enforcement
27 Year Sentence Issued for PHI Theft and Fraud
Violations of HIPAA Privacy Rule carry stiff sentences, with up to 10 years in jail for theft of PHI for personal gain; however using stolen data to commit fraud can carry far stiffer penalties as James Lee Cobb, III recently discovered. Florida Middle District Judge, Charlene Honeywell, recently passed a sentence of 27 years for…
Read MoreHospital Employee Indicted for Stealing Personal Information of More than 12,000 Patients
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of eight individuals, including a Montefiore Medical Center employee, for stealing and using patients’ personal identifying information to make thousands of dollars in purchases at department stores and retailers in Manhattan. The defendants are charged in New York State Supreme Court with varying counts…
Read MoreBilling Business Associate Exceeds Breach Notification Period by 7 Months
A payment processing Business Associate (BA) of North Shore-LIJ Health System – Global Care Delivery (GCD) – has reported the theft of five laptop computers; four of which are believed to have contained the Protected Health Information (PHI) of approximately 18,000 patients. The theft took place at GCD’s offices in Texas on or before September…
Read MoreFormer President of Riverside General Hospital Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison in $158 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
Former President of Riverside General Hospital Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison in $158 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme Operator of Psychiatric Facility Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison, and Owner of Group Home Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison The former president of a Houston hospital, his son and a co-conspirator were sentenced today to…
Read MoreCybersecurity Services Being Outsourced Due to Lack of Skilled Staff
Cybersecurity incidents have risen by 48% over the course of the previous 12 months and industry experts predict that the volume of security incidents will rise further still throughout 2015 and 2016. This is not a problem that will just go away. Improving cybersecurity defenses to resist highly sophisticated attacks requires skilled staff, and with…
Read MoreOCR Confirms HIPAA Compliance Audit Surveys Sent
There has been much speculation over the past week since the sending of the letters was first reported, about whether the OCR pre-screening surveys have actually been dispatched. Now the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has confirmed – to Fierce Health IT – that its preliminary HIPAA surveys have now…
Read MoreAdministrator and Biller of Illinois Physician Group Convicted in $4.5 Million Medicare 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 Robert J. Holley of the FBI’s Chicago Division and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector…
Read MoreJacobi Medical Center Reports 90,060 Patient Records Compromised
The New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation’s (HHC) Jacobi Medical Center has reported 90,060 patient records have been compromised when an employee copied the data from the company’s system and emailed it to her personal email account; as well as copying her new employer on the email. The employee sent the information before leaving…
Read MoreNew Jersey Doctor Sentenced To 14 Months In Prison For Taking Bribes In Test-Referrals Scheme Involving New Jersey Clinical Lab
NEWARK, N.J. – A doctor with a medical practice in Montclair, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 14 months in prison for accepting bribes in exchange for test referrals as part of a long-running and elaborate scheme operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS), of Parsippany, New Jersey, its president and numerous associates, U.S. Attorney…
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