Government

Many HIPAA claims lack merit

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 22, 2007

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Fewer than a quarter of the total HIPAA complaints filed with the Dept. of Health & Human Services since the privacy rule took effect merited further investigation, according to a December 2006 study of the agency's statistics. The HHS Office for Civil Rights received 22,664 complaints from April 2003 through September 2006, and 5,400 of them were deemed eligible for further action, stated the annual review by Health Information Privacy/Security Alert, an independent publication that tracks HIPAA enforcement.

The OCR took action in 69% of the complaints that it pursued. In the remaining 31% of cases, the government found no HIPAA violation by the covered entity. The OCR has not imposed any fines for noncompliance since the privacy rule was established. The Dept. of Justice separately has filed three criminal cases under HIPAA, two of which resulted in convictions.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/01/22/gvbf0122.htm.

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