University Settles with Feds After HIPAA Violations

Idaho State University, which did not conduct a HIPAA security risk analysis for more than five years–even after suffering a breach of protected health information–has agreed to pay $400,000 to the HHS Office for Civil Rights to settle allegations of HIPAA privacy and security rule violations.


Idaho State University, which did not conduct a HIPAA security risk analysis for more than five years--even after suffering a breach of protected health information--has agreed to pay $400,000 to the HHS Office for Civil Rights to settle allegations of HIPAA privacy and security rule violations.

The university also has entered into a corrective action plan to bring it into compliance. The university notified OCR in August 2011 of a breach affecting 17,500 patients at its Pocatello Family Medicine Clinic after firewall protections on its servers were found to have been disabled for at least 10 months.

An OCR investigation found the university did not conduct a HIPAA risk assessment from April 1, 2007, until November 26, 2012, which was more than a year after it was aware of the Pocatello breach. The corrective action plan for Idaho State University is available here.

Other organizations that have paid major fines to OCR following major breaches include the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services ($1.7 million), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee ($1.5 million), UCLA Health System ($865,000), Massachusetts General Hospital ($1 million), Cignet Health ($4.3 million), Rite Aid ($1 million), CVS/pharmacy ($2.2 million) Phoenix Cardiac Surgery ($100,000) and Providence Health & Services ($100,000) and The Hospice of North Idaho ($50,000).

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