Government

Few HIPAA complaints lead to reforms, report shows

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Dec. 8, 2008

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Only 18.5% of medical privacy complaints filed with the Dept. of Health and Human Services resulted in changes to health care organizations' practices since the agency began enforcing the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in 2003.

That's according to a November review by Health Information Privacy/Security Alert, an independent newsletter that tracks the industry. HHS had received a total of 40,248 privacy complaints as of Oct. 31, according to the publication. Of those, only 7,429 led to administrative sanctions requiring the health care organization in question to modify its policies, the report said.

The analysis comes at a time when privacy advocates and health care oversight officials have criticized the HHS Office for Civil Rights and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for lax enforcement of the federal privacy statute. The HHS Office of Inspector General in an Oct. 27 report chastised CMS for taking limited action to ensure compliance with the HIPAA data security requirements.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/12/08/gvbf1208.htm.

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