West Georgia Ambulance was required to resolve several HIPAA violations with a $65,000 civil monetary settlement paid to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with the implementation of a corrective action plan.
Ongoing HIPAA noncompliance
The ambulance company serves Carroll County, Georgia. In 2013, West Georgia filed a breach report with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) over the loss of an unencrypted laptop that contained patient data. The ensuing investigation uncovered many long-term HIPAA noncompliance issues, including:
- Failing to conduct a thorough risk analysis of the vulnerability of its electronic protected health information (ePHI)
- Not providing its workforce with security awareness and training
- Not implementing HIPAA Security Rule policies and procedures
Technical assistance was provided to West Georgia to rectify these issues but the covered entity did not take important steps to fix their system-wide failures. “The last thing patients being wheeled into the back of an ambulance should have to worry about is the privacy and security of their medical information,” said OCR Director Roger Severino. “All providers, large and small, need to take their HIPAA obligations seriously.” See also: HIPAA Compliant Email: The Definitive Guide
Civil monetary penalty and corrective action
Along with the civil monetary penalty, West Georgia must also take corrective action to improve its risk analysis, security training, HIPAA policies, and business associate agreements. Within 30 days, the covered entity is required to send OCR its plans for HIPAA compliant risk analysis. West Georgia will also have to revise and submit its security training materials to HHS for approval. Plus, the covered entity must install HIPAA compliant encryption software on its computers and review all third-party service providers to ensure compliance.
Conclusion
OCR is giving greater scrutiny to small breaches and cracked down on potential HIPAA violations throughout 2019. HIPAA violations that started years ago can still result in fines for earlier noncompliance once investigated. Over $12 million was paid to OCR last year to address noncompliance issues.
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