Government

HHS imposes first HIPAA sanctions

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 4, 2008

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A Seattle hospital system in July agreed to pay $100,000 to settle potential privacy and security violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act -- the first such sanctions levied by the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services.

Providence Health & Services also agreed to implement an improved plan to safeguard patients' health information.

The agreement was prompted by several breaches at Providence facilities between 2005 and 2006. The incidents involved stolen tapes and laptops that contained the protected health information of nearly 400,000 patients. Providence admitted no liability.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/08/04/gvbf0804.htm.

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