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Friday, 08 May 2015 14:15

Single-location Small pharmacy in Denver, Colorado to pay $125000 for failing to Dispose Paper Medical Records as per HIPAA requirements

Written by Duane Lansdowne
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HIPAA Security Russian RouletteData Security and Computer Treat Awareness Alert: We all know that money doesn't grow on trees so why play russian roulette with your medical practice future?

"Regardless of size, organizations cannot abandon protected health information or dispose of it in dumpsters or other containers that are accessible by the public or other unauthorized persons," said OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels.

 Cornell Prescription Pharmacy (Cornell) has agreed to pay Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) $125,000 for potential violation of HIPAA Privacy rules. OCR investigation revealed Cornell's failure to implement any written policies and procedures as required by the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Cornell also failed to provide training on policies and procedures to its workforce as required by the Privacy Rule. OCR opened a compliance review and investigation after receiving notification from a local Denver news outlet regarding the disposal of unsecured documents containing the protected health information (PHI) of 1,610 patients in an unlocked, open container on Cornell's premises. The documents were not shredded and contained identifiable information regarding specific patients.

"Regardless of size, organizations cannot abandon protected health information or dispose of it in dumpsters or other containers that are accessible by the public or other unauthorized persons," said OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels. "Even in our increasingly electronic world, it is critical that policies and procedures be in place for secure disposal of patient information, whether that information is in electronic form or on paper."

In addition to the $125,000 settlement amount, the agreement requires Cornell to develop and implement a comprehensive set of policies and procedures to comply with the Privacy Rule, and develop and provide staff training. The Resolution Agreement can be found at:

Cornell Prescription Pharmacy Corrective Action Plan (CAP)

 

Last modified on Friday, 08 May 2015 15:01

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