New Federal, State Laws Raise the Stakes When Dealing With Employees Who Snoop - Make Your Revenue Smarter

AIS Publications – Aug 28, 2009.

Health care organizations have more reason than ever to keep employees from snooping into patient records. New laws at the federal level, and in some states, make it clear that letting nosy employees slide is no longer an option. Click title to read more…

 

The HITECH Act’s definition of a ‘breach’ now applies to when a person snoops into patient records: “The term ‘breach’ means the unauthorized acquisition, access, use, or disclosure of protected health information which compromises the security or privacy of such information, except where an unauthorized person to whom such information is disclosed would not reasonably have been able to retain such information.” The law also requires CMS and the HHS Office for Civil Rights to investigate complaints where a preliminary inquiry shows that “willful neglect” is the cause. And the law raised the penalties the government can hand down.

Providers might also want to watch what is happening in their own states. California enacted two laws to address breaches of patient information in 2008. In May, the state handed down its first administrative penalty against a hospital under the two laws by assessing the maximum penalty of $250,000 on Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center. Bellflower self-reported incidents of employees accessing patient information without authorization during a high-profile patient’s stay.

Click HERE to read more in the original article.

 

Comments are closed.