First civil money penalty for HIPAA Privacy Rule violations
HIM Connection, March 8, 2011
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The Office for Civil Rights (OCR), HIPAA privacy and security enforcer, issued its first civil money penalty to a covered entity for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, according to a press release posted February 22 on the HHS website.
The OCR fined Cignet Health, of Prince George’s County, MD, $4.3 million for the violations. The fine marks the first time federal regulators have used the new monetary penalty structure under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.
Cignet violated the rights of 41 patients when it denied them access to their medical records, which they requested between September 2008 and October 2009, according to HHS.
Read more on HCPro’s HIPAA Update blog.
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