Hipaa Violations Paper

HIPAA Violations

Carolyn Jacobs

HCS/335

September 24, 2012

Audrey Crooms

HIPAA Violations

Violations to the HIPAA rules and regulations are costing organizations several million dollars in fines. Employees are not complying with their obligations to provide patients with their medical records. According to “www.medpagetoday.com” (2011) “Cignet Health Center, who has four clinics in Maryland and overseas, was fined $4.3 million in civil money penalties for violating the HIPAA Privacy Rule” (para. 1). This is the first time that federal officials have imposed a civil penalty for violating the privacy rule that went into effect in 2003. This paper explains the reasons for the privacy rule and the reason that Cignet Health Center was fined.

HIPAA Privacy Rule

According to Garrett, Baillie, McGeehan, and Garrett (2010) “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the Privacy Rule to implement the requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)” (p. 117). These rules give the patient the option of obtaining his or her medical records and the rights to understand and control how the health information will be used. Between September 2008 and October 2009 several patients of Cignet Health Center requested their medical records. The administrative staff would not provide the patient with their health records and some suggest that the reason was because the administrative staff thought that the patients were requesting their records to discover if there was an error in the diagnosis of the illness. They were afraid that the patients were going to sue for malpractice. However, the patients were requesting the information to obtain a second opinion regarding their health and illness. One of the job duties of a physician is to recommend to the patient to seek a second opinion before needing any type of surgery or in case of a major illness. The “www.rush.edu” (n.d) website states that “even if you like your...