State Attorney General HIPAA HITECH Enforcement
My health law colleague, David Harlow, covers the news today on the first HIPAA enforcement action taken by a state attorney general under the new HITECH provision of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
David’s post, HIPAA enforcement by state attorney general: The shape of things to come, provides a good summary of the announcement by the Connecticut Attorney General. More information via the Connecticut Attorney General press release.
The lawsuit filed by the Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (coincidentally brother of David Blumenthal, National Coordinator of Health Information Technology) alleges that a health insurer, Health Net of Connecticut, Inc., failed to promptly notify the AG and other officials of a missing portable computer disk drive that contained unencrypted protected health information, Social Security numbers and bank accounts for approximately 446,000 individuals. The lawsuit also named UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Oxford Health Plans, LLC who acquired ownership of Health Net of Connecticut. The action also seeks a court order against Health Net to encrypt all information held on electronic devices.
Since the early days of HIPAA implementation and compliance there has largely been a lack of real enforcement efforts. The new provisions under HITECH allowing state attorney generals to file HIPAA […]
Read more this great post here
