Six major patient record breaches draw $675,000 in penalties
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, June 14, 2010
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Under a law passed after breaches of celebrity medical records, such as those of the late actress Farrah Fawcett, the California Department of Public Health Thursday, June 10, levied six fines totaling $675,000 against five California hospitals where employees and others gained unauthorized access to sensitive information in patients' electronic medical records.
State officials did not name any of the patients involved, but one of them was said to be Michael Jackson, whose records, according to the Los Angeles Times, were reportedly accessed illegally at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after his death.
"These facilities failed to prevent unauthorized access to confidential patient information," Kathleen Billingsley, deputy director of the Center for Health Care Quality, California Department of Public Health, said during a briefing Thursday.
"Medical privacy is a fundamental right, and every Californian seeking care in a hospital should not have to worry about who is viewing their public medical information,” she said. “We remain concerned with violations of patient confidentiality and the potential harm to patients."
California may have the most aggressive patient privacy laws in the nation. CDPH spokesman Ralph Montano says state officials "are not aware of any other state with similar laws."
Read the full story on HealthLeaders Media.
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