The health care industry’s toothless tiger finally bared its teeth, as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a $4.3 m fine to a Maryland health care provider for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The action is the first monetary fine issued since the Act was passed in 1996.
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A copy of a penalty notice against Cignet depicts a two year effort in which HHS struggled with what appears to be a dysfunctional Maryland provider unaware of the potential impact of HIPAA non compliance, and unwilling or unable to cooperate with HHS in any way.
via HIPAA Bares Its Teeth: $4.3m Fine For Privacy Violation | threatpost.
At first reading of the title, I was willing to rail against HIPAA, as I’m tired of it.
Then I read the post.
Wow. It’s like a test case designed to see just how far you could push HHS, and frankly how incompetent you can be while pushing.
Seems HHS was having trouble getting Cignet’s attention. Bet they have it now.
It’s worse than just ignoring HHS until the courts got involved.. Mr HISTalk (histalk2.com) did a little research and found that the guy who owns this company used to be a doctor whose license was revoked after a mail & student loan fraud conviction. He seems to be bad news all the way around.