The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently announced resolution agreements with Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic, P.A., (“Raleigh Orthopaedic”) and New York-Presbyterian Hospital (“NYP”) for HIPAA Privacy Rule violations.
Raleigh Orthopaedic
Following a breach notification report from Raleigh Orthopaedic in April 2013, OCR investigated and discovered that Raleigh Orthopaedic had improperly disclosed protected health information (“PHI”) to a third-party service provider without entering into a business associate agreement (“BAA”) with that service provider. Raleigh Orthopaedic had engaged the service provider to convert X-rays into electronic media and enabled the vendor to harvest the silver from the X-rays.
The resolution agreement requires Raleigh Orthopaedic to pay $750,000 million to OCR and enter into a Corrective Action Plan that requires the entity to provide OCR with a list of its business associates and copies of any relevant BAAs with such business associates. Raleigh Orthopaedic must also revise its policies and procedures to:
- designate an official responsible for ensuring that Raleigh Orthopaedic enters into a BAA with each business associate prior to disclosing PHI to the business associate;
- create a process to assess whether each current and future business relationship is with a business associate and enter into BAAs if required;
- develop a process for negotiating and entering into BAAs;
- create a standard template BAA;
- retain documentation of the BAA for at least six years beyond the date when the business associate relationship is terminated; and
- disclose to business associates only the minimum amount of PHI that is reasonably necessary for business associates to perform their duties.
In announcing the settlement with Raleigh Orthopaedic, OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels noted that “HIPAA’s obligation on covered entities to obtain business associate agreements is more than a mere check-the-box paperwork exercise.”
This is the second major OCR settlement in two months against a covered entity for improperly disclosing PHI to a third party without entering into a BAA. In March, North Memorial Care of Minnesota paid a $1.55 million settlement for similar violations.
NYP
The settlement with NYP resulted from a complaint received in January 2013 that NYP had allowed a film crew from the ABC medical reality TV show “NY Med” to film two patients without their authorization, including one patient who died in the emergency room during the filming. OCR’s investigation found that NYP had allowed ABC “virtually unfettered access” to the hospital that created “an environment where PHI could not be protected from impermissible disclosure to the ABC film crew and staff.”
In the resolution agreement, NYP agreed to pay a $2.2 million settlement to OCR and enter into a Corrective Action Plan that requires NYP to develop policies and procedures that contain:
- a specific prohibition on the use or disclosure of PHI without patient authorization by NYP workforce members, agents and business associates to any person or entity planning, coordinating or engaging in photography, video recording or audio recording for non-medical related purposes;
- a process for evaluating and approving authorizations requesting the disclosure of PHI by NYP;
- identification of NYP personnel or representatives who workforce members, agents or business associates may contact in the event of any inquiry or concern regarding compliance with HIPAA in relation to these activities;
- a requirement that all photography, video recording and audio recording conducted on NYP premises be actively monitored by appropriate NYP representatives for compliance with the Privacy Rule and NYP’s policies;
- measures that address specific Privacy Rule provisions;
- internal reporting mechanisms; and
- the application of appropriate sanctions against members of NYP’s workforce, including supervisors and managers, who fail to comply with NYP’s policies and procedures.
In the press release accompanying the resolution agreement, OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels stated that “OCR will not permit covered entities to compromise their patients’ privacy by allowing news or television crews to film the patients without their authorization.” This is the second HIPAA enforcement action against NYP. In 2014, NYP paid $3.3 million and Columbia University paid $1.5 million as part of a collective settlement resulting from a breach of a shared data network that linked to patient information systems.
In connection with the settlement, OCR developed an FAQ addressing this issue that states that health care providers cannot invite media crews into treatment and other areas in which patients’ PHI will be accessible in any form unless the health care providers first obtain prior written authorization from each patient. The FAQ explicitly clarifies that subsequent masking or blurring of patient identities by the media (as had been done by ABC in the case of the patient who died on NY Med) was not sufficient “because the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not allow media access to the patients’ PHI, absent an authorization, in the first place.” The FAQ indicates that the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not, however, obligate health care providers to block the media from public waiting areas or areas where the public enters or exits the facility.
Search
Recent Posts
Categories
- Behavioral Advertising
- Centre for Information Policy Leadership
- Children’s Privacy
- Cyber Insurance
- Cybersecurity
- Enforcement
- European Union
- Events
- FCRA
- Financial Privacy
- General
- Health Privacy
- Identity Theft
- Information Security
- International
- Marketing
- Multimedia Resources
- Online Privacy
- Security Breach
- U.S. Federal Law
- U.S. State Law
- Workplace Privacy
Tags
- Aaron Simpson
- Accountability
- Adequacy
- Advertisement
- Advertising
- American Privacy Rights Act
- Anna Pateraki
- Anonymization
- Anti-terrorism
- APEC
- Apple Inc.
- Argentina
- Arkansas
- Article 29 Working Party
- Artificial Intelligence
- Australia
- Austria
- Automated Decisionmaking
- Baltimore
- Bankruptcy
- Belgium
- Biden Administration
- Big Data
- Binding Corporate Rules
- Biometric Data
- Blockchain
- Bojana Bellamy
- Brazil
- Brexit
- British Columbia
- Brittany Bacon
- Brussels
- Business Associate Agreement
- BYOD
- California
- CAN-SPAM
- Canada
- Cayman Islands
- CCPA
- CCTV
- Chile
- China
- Chinese Taipei
- Christopher Graham
- CIPA
- Class Action
- Clinical Trial
- Cloud
- Cloud Computing
- CNIL
- Colombia
- Colorado
- Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- Compliance
- Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
- Congress
- Connecticut
- Consent
- Consent Order
- Consumer Protection
- Cookies
- COPPA
- Coronavirus/COVID-19
- Council of Europe
- Council of the European Union
- Court of Justice of the European Union
- CPPA
- CPRA
- Credit Monitoring
- Credit Report
- Criminal Law
- Critical Infrastructure
- Croatia
- Cross-Border Data Flow
- Cyber Attack
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
- Data Brokers
- Data Controller
- Data Localization
- Data Privacy Framework
- Data Processor
- Data Protection Act
- Data Protection Authority
- Data Protection Impact Assessment
- Data Transfer
- David Dumont
- David Vladeck
- Delaware
- Denmark
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Justice
- Department of the Treasury
- District of Columbia
- Do Not Call
- Do Not Track
- Dobbs
- Dodd-Frank Act
- DPIA
- E-Privacy
- E-Privacy Directive
- Ecuador
- Ed Tech
- Edith Ramirez
- Electronic Communications Privacy Act
- Electronic Privacy Information Center
- Elizabeth Denham
- Employee Monitoring
- Encryption
- ENISA
- EU Data Protection Directive
- EU Member States
- European Commission
- European Data Protection Board
- European Data Protection Supervisor
- European Parliament
- Facial Recognition Technology
- FACTA
- Fair Information Practice Principles
- Federal Aviation Administration
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Federal Communications Commission
- Federal Data Protection Act
- Federal Trade Commission
- FERC
- FinTech
- Florida
- Food and Drug Administration
- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
- France
- Franchise
- Fred Cate
- Freedom of Information Act
- Freedom of Speech
- Fundamental Rights
- GDPR
- Geofencing
- Geolocation
- Georgia
- Germany
- Global Privacy Assembly
- Global Privacy Enforcement Network
- Gramm Leach Bliley Act
- Hacker
- Hawaii
- Health Data
- Health Information
- HIPAA
- HIPPA
- HITECH Act
- Hong Kong
- House of Representatives
- Hungary
- Illinois
- India
- Indiana
- Indonesia
- Information Commissioners Office
- Information Sharing
- Insurance Provider
- Internal Revenue Service
- International Association of Privacy Professionals
- International Commissioners Office
- Internet
- Internet of Things
- IP Address
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Jacob Kohnstamm
- Japan
- Jason Beach
- Jay Rockefeller
- Jenna Rode
- Jennifer Stoddart
- Jersey
- Jessica Rich
- John Delionado
- John Edwards
- Kentucky
- Korea
- Latin America
- Laura Leonard
- Law Enforcement
- Lawrence Strickling
- Legislation
- Liability
- Lisa Sotto
- Litigation
- Location-Based Services
- London
- Madrid Resolution
- Maine
- Malaysia
- Markus Heyder
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Meta
- Mexico
- Microsoft
- Minnesota
- Mobile App
- Mobile Device
- Montana
- Morocco
- MySpace
- Natascha Gerlach
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- National Labor Relations Board
- National Science and Technology Council
- National Security
- National Security Agency
- National Telecommunications and Information Administration
- Nebraska
- NEDPA
- Netherlands
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Ninth Circuit
- North Carolina
- Norway
- Obama Administration
- OECD
- Office for Civil Rights
- Office of Foreign Assets Control
- Ohio
- Opt-In Consent
- Oregon
- Outsourcing
- Pakistan
- Parental Consent
- Payment Card
- PCI DSS
- Penalty
- Pennsylvania
- Personal Data
- Personal Health Information
- Personal Information
- Personally Identifiable Information
- Peru
- Philippines
- Phyllis Marcus
- Poland
- PRISM
- Privacy By Design
- Privacy Policy
- Privacy Rights
- Privacy Rule
- Privacy Shield
- Protected Health Information
- Ransomware
- Record Retention
- Red Flags Rule
- Regulation
- Rhode Island
- Richard Thomas
- Right to Be Forgotten
- Right to Privacy
- Risk-Based Approach
- Rosemary Jay
- Russia
- Safe Harbor
- Sanctions
- Schrems
- Scott Kimpel
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- Security Rule
- Senate
- Serbia
- Service Provider
- Singapore
- Smart Grid
- Smart Metering
- Social Media
- Social Security Number
- South Africa
- South Carolina
- South Korea
- Spain
- Spyware
- Standard Contractual Clauses
- State Attorneys General
- Steven Haas
- Stick With Security Series
- Stored Communications Act
- Student Data
- Supreme Court
- Surveillance
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Targeted Advertising
- Telecommunications
- Telemarketing
- Telephone Consumer Protection Act
- Tennessee
- Terry McAuliffe
- Texas
- Text Message
- Thailand
- Transparency
- Transportation Security Administration
- Trump Administration
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Unmanned Aircraft Systems
- Uruguay
- Utah
- Vermont
- Video Privacy Protection Act
- Video Surveillance
- Virginia
- Viviane Reding
- Washington
- Whistleblowing
- Wireless Network
- Wiretap
- ZIP Code