Health system settles HIPAA claims for $865,500

The University of California at Los Angeles Health System (UCLAHS) has settled claims that it violated HIPAA privacy and security rules. The settlement stemmed from two complaints filed by celebrity patients between 2005 and 2008. The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR’s) investigation indicated that unauthorized employees repeatedly looked at the electronic protected health information of UCLAHS’s patients. Further, the government claimed that UCLAHS failed to appropriately discipline workforce members and failed to implement security measures that would reduce the risks of impermissible access to electronic protected health information by unauthorized users.

UCLAHS agreed to pay $865,500 and enter into a 3-year corrective action plan to resolve the allegations. In entering into the agreement, UCLAHS did not admit that it violated HIPAA. In its press release announcing the settlement, OCR emphasized that entities covered under HIPAA must have policies and procedures to reasonably restrict access to patient information to only those employees with a valid reason to view the information and must sanction any employee who is found to have violated these policies.

Recently, OCR released a proposed privacy rule that would require providers to be able to track each time patients’ electronically maintained protected health information is accessed – both inside the practice and by business associates - and produce a full “access report” within 30 days of a patient's request.

Dallas L Alford IV, CPA is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of North Carolina and owner of Atlantic Financial Consulting, a consulting firm that provides comprehensive medical billing services, practice management consulting, coding audits, Medicare compliance, Medicare RAC support and other general medical practice consulting services.

To learn more about Atlantic Financial Consulting you may visit their website at

http://atlanticfinancial.us  or contact Dallas L Alford IV, CPA directly at 1 888-428-2555, Ext. 200.