Infographic details some of the most serious penalties ever given by the federal government for the high cost of HIPAA violations.
Security breaches have increased over 32% over the past year in healthcare organizations costing an estimated 6.5 billion dollars annually according to a study by the Ponemon Institute. Last week, the HHS office for Civil Rights issued its first enforcement action against the state of Alaska settling with Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) for HIPAA security violations it reported as required by HITECH. Alaska’s DHSS entered into a settlement agreement and agreed to pay $1,700,000 after a USB hard drive potentially containing electronic protected health information (ePHI) was stolen from the vehicle of a DHSS computer technician in October 2009.
The HITECH Breach Notification Rule requires covered entities to report a breach, an impermissible use or disclosure of ePHI, of 500 individuals or more to the Secretary of HHS and the media. The following HIPAA infographic by Inspired ELearning, highlights some of the penalties and fines associated with HIPAA violations.
See my previous post on 5 Ways Healthcare Organizations Can Reduce Security Breaches.
