Office for Civil Rights Announces Severe Fines for Violations of HIPAA Privacy Rule

Check out this News Alert from our partner Haynes and Boone, LLP:

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced unprecedented severe enforcement actions against two healthcare providers for violating the HIPAA Privacy Rule. In one instance, a provider was fined $4.3 million and in the other case, a hospital was fined $1 million.

These actions are the result of newly granted powers of OCR under the 2009 HITECH Act, allowing it to more aggressively investigate and punish violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. To read the full article on the facts of these HIPAA violations, and what providers can expect in the future from OCR, please visit the Publications section of our website.