Resolution Agreement Remedy HIPAA Violations

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a press release on June 23, 2014 stating that it had reached a Resolution Agreement with Parkview Health System, a nonprofit Indiana health provider.  Pursuant to the Resolution Agreement, Parkview has agreed to pay $800,000 as a “Resolution Amount” and to enter a corrective plan to address its HIPAA compliance issues. 

Interestingly, the Resolution Agreement says that it recounts an incident that was reported in a complaint to HHS in 2010 by Dr. Christine Hamilton, a physician.  Dr. Hamilton asserted that Parkview failed to safeguard thousands of her patients in paper medical records that had been in the custody of Parkview.  “The fact that Parkview left such a large volume of medical records in an unsecured location suggests that Parkview acted with ‘willful neglect’ as defined by the HIPAA regulations.” 

See Michael J. Kline, Paper Records HIPAA Violation Results in $800,000 Payment Under HHS Resolution Agreement, Mondaq, June 30, 2014.