The Settlement In a Tuesday statement, HHS OCR says its settlement with Banner Health came after two complaints.
In the first complaint, a patient said she requested access to her medical records in December 2017 but did not receive the records until May 2018. The second complaint alleged that another individual requested access to an electronic copy of his records in September 2019, but the records were not sent until February 2020.
“This first resolution of the year signals that our right of access initiative is still going strong and that providers of all sizes need to respect the right of patients to have timely access to their medical records,” said Roger Severino, OCR director.
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On December 10, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Standards for the Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, 45 C.F.R. Parts 160 and 164, Subpart E (the Privacy Rule). In response to its December 2018 Request for Information (RFI) for public input on areas of potential modification to the HIPAA Rules, OCR received over 1,300 comments addressing, among other topics: modifications to promote information sharing to support value-based care; permitting family members and caregivers to receive information to assist in care coordination, particularly for individuals with substance use disorders and mental illness; and reducing the burden on covered entities imposed by certain documentation and administrative requirements.
Rita Bowen, vice president of privacy, compliance and health information management policy, MRO Corp.
As federal regulators intensify their focus on compliance with requirements to provide patients with access to their health information, healthcare organizations need to sort through a variety of emerging challenges, says health information management and privacy expert Rita Bowen.
The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has issued more than a dozen HIPAA settlements - ranging from $3,500 to $160,000 - in cases involving covered entities failing to provide timely access to a patient s requested health information.
Under HIPAA, covered entities must within 30 days fulfill patients requests for copies of their health information in the format of their choice. But under a proposal issued by HHS OCR this month to modify the HIPAA Privacy Rule, that compliance timeframe could potentially be reduced to 15 days (see:
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SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe LLP today launched an investigation into the conduct of Dynasplint Systems, Inc. related to a security breach in which personal and protected health information may have been accessed or stolen. Consumers that have been impacted by the breach are encouraged to contact the firm.
Dynasplint sells dynamic splinting devices for patients with connective tissue changes caused by limited range of motion. According to Dynasplint, it experienced a data security breach on May 16, 2020. The company determined on June 4, 2020 that personal and protected health information was accessed without authorization. The hacked data may have contained medical information as well as customer names, email addresses, home addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers.