Medical Records Dumped = $800,000 in HIPAA Settlement 

Parkview Health System, Inc., a nonprofit health care system that serves individuals in northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio, must pay $800,000 for HIPAA noncompliance.

Parkview OCR (Office for Civil Rights) received a complaint from a retiring physician reporting that on June 4, 2009, Parkview employees, knowing the physician wasn’t home, left 71 cardboard boxes with between 5,000 to 8,000 medical records on her driveway. The boxes were left within 20 feet of a public road, and in the vicinity of a heavily trafficked public shopping venue.

In addition to the $800,000 penalty amount, Parkview must take corrective action to revise their policies and procedures, train staff, and provide an implementation report to OCR.

The acting deputy director of health information privacy at OCR, stated  “It is imperative that HIPAA covered entities and their business associates protect patient information during its transfer and disposal.”  This includes both paper records and Electronic Medical Records. 

Are you certain that your EMRs are safeguarded when in transit, storage or properly disposed of?

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