Health Data Breach Case Study

When confidential patient information is disclosed without consent it is a violation of the HIPAA Title II Security Rule. This rule was enacted in response to private information being leaked to the news and emails containing privileged information were read by unauthorized people. Identity theft is a real concern so patient privacy should be taken seriously. This is a rule can easily be broken without the

Security breaches of EMRs vary from someone without consent viewing the patient’s information, to a hacker using the information to steal one’s identity. According to Privacy Rights Clearing House, more than 260 million data breaches have occurred in the United States, including those of health related records. Approximately 12 percent of data breaches involve medical organizations (Gellman, 2012). According to Redspin, a provider of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act risk analysis and IT security assessment services, more than 6 million individual’s health records were compromised during a period from August 2009 and December 2010 (Author Unknown, 2010). A provision of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act requires all breaches affecting 500 or more people to be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services. This reporting is to be accomplished within 60 days of discovery. The Redspin report covering the period above involved 225 breaches of protected health information. The amount of people with access to an individual’s health record creates concern with confidentiality. According to the Los Angeles

In the health care business, there are certain standards and laws that have been put in place to protect our patients and their personal health information. When a health care facility fails to protect their patient’s confidential information, the US Government may get involved and facilities may be forced to pay huge sums of money in fines, and risk damaging their reputation.

. HIPAA privacy rules are complicated and extensive, and set forth guidelines to be followed by health care providers and other covered entities such as insurance carriers and by consumers. HIPAA is very specific in its requirements regarding the release of information, but is not as specific when it comes to the manner in which training and policies are developed and delivered within the health care industry. This paper will discuss how HIPAA affects a patient's access to their medical records, how and under what circumstances personal health information can be released to other entities for purposes

Huping Zhou, a former cardiothoracic surgeon from China, whom recently moved to Los Angeles and became employed at UCLA School of Medicine as a researcher, was sentenced to federal prison for HIPAA violations. This made him the first person in the United States to receive a prison sentence for HIPAA violations. His employer informed Zhoe that they were starting the process of terminating his employment .Zhou accessed the medical records of his former colleagues that night. During the following three weeks he accessed the records of celebrities, and high-profile patients 323 times. He claimed that he was unaware that it was illegal to view these records. No evidence was found that Zhou misused the information he obtained, nor did he sell the information. He received a four month jail sentence and a 2,000 dollar fine (Dimick, 2010).

During this research, there has been a collection of data that had been connected to the instances of HIPAA violations within the United States. There are various cases that have been reported through patients and employees where very personal medical information has been exposed unlawfully for personal gain. These cases have not only put a company at reputational risk. But these cases can also place a patient and or healthcare company in a terrible financial stipulation. This thesis will include a series of charts and tables that describe the fluctuation of such cases involving different examples of HIPAA violations. Not only will there be data of these instances but there will be illustrations of how both patients and healthcare employees exemplify HIPAA violations. These cases will be verified from an external and internal evaluation. Suggestive protocol will be demonstrated to guide one along to ensure the possibility of another case of HIPAA violation is prevented. Protocols and examples are being credited by diverse information.

professionals, as well as you, the patient? Violations of the HIPAA Privacy rule greatly impacts

Even though hipaa violations are an important standard in preventing many individuals from causing several breaches of information from getting out, it is important to work on a strategies within several health care organizations that will work with the privacy rules regarding violation laws. “Jill Granger & Laura Cataldo (2013) reports When working in the healthcare setting, it is important to consult with the guidelines established by one's institution and to participate in any training programs to insure that the appropriate steps are being taken to maintain privacy. There are also a variety of additional resources available from the federal government and professional organizations to assist in the training process that may be especially

HIPAA, (Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996) outlines rules and regulations and the rights of patients to access their healthcare information such as notifications of privacy practices, copying and viewing medical records, and amendments. This paper explains why confidentiality is important today and discusses recourses patients can use if they believe their privacy has been violated. This paper will also discuss criminal and civil penalties’ that can occur for breaking HIPAA privacy rules.

HIPAA, (Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996) outlines rules and regulations and the rights of patients to access their healthcare information such as, notifications of privacy practices, copying and viewing medical records, and amendments. This paper explains why confidentiality is important today and discusses recourses patients can use if they believe their privacy has been violated. This paper will also discuss criminal and civil penalties’ that can occur for breaking HIPAA privacy rules.

I think that HIPAA is very important for the protection of patients’ private health information. I feel that if I would find out that my private health records had been breached in a local health care facility, I would be very concerned and upset. It’s expected by patients that the utmost care and discretion will be given to secure and protect their private information. I actually have been alerted of a cyberattack on the IT system of my health plan that was maintained through Anthem. They thought that the information that may have been accessed were names, birth dates, social security numbers, addresses, emails, and income data. It was not believed that the infiltrators had gained access to personal credit card or banking information or medical

Health care members are required to guarantee that the privacy of the patient’s health information does not get out without the patient’s permission. Healthcare workers can use the patient information for treatment or payment cleared by HIPAA. The worker must get permission from the patient before they

HIPPA is a government act signed into law to ensure portability of insurance between jobs, and to safeguard patient information confidentiality in an effort to protect patients and reduce healthcare fraud and abuse. Protected Health Information (PHI) includes anything “personally identifiable” within a patient’s healthcare information, the unregulated sharing of which can cause unwanted complications within a patient’s life, including but not limited to, emotional distress and discrimination by others. HIPPA is intended to regulate the release of PHI by focusing on three major focus areas in the healthcare workforce.

This case presents a prime example of privacy violation. The Federal privacy rule 42 CFR, part 2 mandated addition privacy protection for any health record that is generated in the treatment of patients in the federal alcohol and drug program (Hughes, 2002). The HIPAA privacy rule dictates that healthcare organizations must not disclose any identifying patient information, or alert any entity that a particular patient is participating in alcohol/drug treatment program. This type of privacy breach must be reported promptly to the internal review board (IRB), compliance officer, risk management office and the privacy officer at the healthcare organization. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) act also mandated that any healthcare organization or any covered entity under the HIPAA act should promptly notify individual patients about the accidental disclosure of their medical information; the time from discovery of breach of PHI to patient’s notification must not be more than 60 days. In addition, to patient notification, the covered entity must also report such incidents to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and to the media if the breach affects more than 500 patients, and if the breach affects less than 500 patients, notifying the patients and the

The department of Health and Human Services protects and guides the health and well being of individuals here in America (Thacker, 2014). They fulfill these duties providing Americans with adequate and efficient health and human services and monitoring services designed to increase the efficiency of care in the health system (Thacker, 2014). One of the services being monitored by the department of Health and Human Services is the electronic health record system, which carries private and vital information of patient’s health record enabling all eligible participating health workers access to these records (Thacker, 2014). A breach of the protective health information of patients in a health organization creates chaos as these are against the health insurance portability and accountability (HIPAA) law (Thacker, 2014). Hence, measure will have to be put in place to determine what caused the breach and how to rectify it to ensure the breach never happens again (Thacker, 2014).