Recent Enforcement Actions
Just when we thought our information was up to date!
On Tuesday February 13, 2018, the HHS Office for Civil Rights announced that “Consequences for HIPAA violations don’t stop when a business closes”. Filefax, Inc. located in Northbrook, Illinois is no longer in business after an anonymous complaint that Protected Health Information (PHI) destined for the shredding/recycling facility was left unattended in an unlocked truck (alleged date February 6 & 9, 2015). OCR’s investigation reported that Filefax, Inc. impermissibly disclosed the PHI of 2,150 individuals at the Filefax parking lot by granting an unauthorized person to remove the PHI from Filefax and leaving it unsecured outside their facility.
During the 2016 court ruling in an unrelated litigation, a receiver was appointed to liquidate Filefax’s assets for distribution to creditors, etc. The receiver agreed to pay $100,000 monetary settlement and to store/dispose of the remaining medical records discovered at the Filefax’s facility in accordance to HIPAA’s standards.
RISC Management and Consulting 