Tag Archives: records

Hospital Fined $85,000 by OCR for Failure to Provide Timely Access to Patient Records

Today, in the first settlement of its kind, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“OCR”) announced that Bayfront Health St. Petersburg (“Bayfront”) has paid $85,000 to OCR and has adopted a corrective action plan to settle a potential violation of the right of access provision of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).  This is also the first enforcement action under OCR’s Right of Access Initiative,… More

OCR Releases Video Guidance on Provision of Medical Records

The summer movie season is now officially in full swing, with the release of three informational videos regarding HIPAA and the right of individuals to access their medical records, published by the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services. 

The video trilogy, and accompanying infographic, are the eagerly-awaited sequel to OCR’s guidance “Individuals’ Right under HIPAA to Access their Health Information 45 CFR § 164.525,” issued earlier this year. … More

The Coming Boom in HIV Testing (and Requests for Production of HIV Records)

With relatively little fanfare, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed S.2158, into law on April 27, 2012, making HIV testing possible with simply verbal consent, as opposed to written consent. The legislation amends Mass. Gen. L. ch. 111, section 70F; its aim is to increase screening for HIV and I believe it will have that effect.

Will the change in the law have an impact on health information management?… More

Is Physician Privacy a Thing of the Past

I give my perspective on issues of physician privacy in this video from The HealthCare Channel, including:

  • Can physicians challenge online review sites such as Health Grades or Vitals.com to have critical patient comments removed?
  • The Supreme Court will rule soon on the case against the State of Vermont and the law banning the sale of prescription data to companies for use in marketing to those physicians.  …
  • More