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HIPAA loses some teeth

LTC Liability Monitor, June 9, 2005

The Department of Justice ruled that the HIPAA privacy rule applies to covered entities such as hospitals and nursing homes, but not to the covered entity's employees, according to a report in The New York Times. The decision, released June 1, surprised experts who thought that employees were subject to the same HIPAA provisions and penalties as physicians, insurers, hospitals, nursing homes, and other covered entities. The opinion is binding on the federal government executive branch, but not on judges. "Under this decision, a tremendous amount of conduct that is clearly wrong will fall outside the criminal penalties of the statute," the Times quoted privacy expert Robert M. Gellman as saying. However, the Justice Department said employees would still be subject to criminal prosecution under other state and federal laws for privacy violations, the newspaper reported.

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