The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has fined Jackson Health System $2.15 million over three patient health information breaches, including missing boxes of paper records, an employee leaking information about an NFL player to an ESPN reporter and another employee stealing and selling other records.
Jackson Health waived its right to a hearing, paid the penalty and did not contest the findings of the investigation, which was conducted by agency’s Office of Civil Rights.
The health records are private under a 1996 federal law known as HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The HHS investigation “revealed a HIPAA compliance program that had been in disarray for a number of years,” according to Roger Severino, director of the Office of Civil Rights.
Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.