This week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced an agreement to settle HIPAA violations with Filefax, located in Northbrook, Illinois. One aspect was different than their usual settlement process in that Filefax closed the business down during the OCR investigation and was no longer operating when the settlement was reached. OCR announced that Filefax could not avoid their obligations under HIPAA even though they were no longer running the company. The receiver that is liquidating the company’s assets agreed to pay $100,000 to settle the potential HIPAA violations made by the company while open.
Their HIPAA violations stemmed from an anonymous complaint stating that the medical records of approximately 2,150 patients, which contained protected health information (PHI), received by Filefax had been taken to a shredding/recycling facility and sold. The OCR investigation found over a period of several weeks the PHI had been left unsecured outside Filefox and had been removed from the facility by an unauthorized person.
The press release can be viewed here. The Resolution Agreement can be viewed here.
Also of Interest
HIPAA Enforcement 2017: Another Big Year for HIPAA Enforcement
Why Is HIPAA Data Breach Enforcement Increasing? An Insurer’s View from Katherine Keefe
Lessons from 2016, the Biggest HIPAA Enforcement Year on Record
* * * *
This post was authored by Professor Daniel J. Solove, who through TeachPrivacy develops computer-based privacy training, data security training, HIPAA training, and many other forms of awareness training on privacy and security topics. Professor Solove also posts at his blog at LinkedIn. His blog has more than 1 million followers.
Professor Solove is the organizer, along with Paul Schwartz of the Privacy + Security Forum (Oct. 3-5, 2018 in Washington, DC), an annual event that aims to bridge the silos between privacy and security.
If you are interested in privacy and data security issues, there are many great ways Professor Solove can help you stay informed:
* LinkedIn Influencer blog
* Twitter
* Newsletter
