While a stolen flash drive left the University of Rochester Medical Center with a multimillion-dollar settlement payment, other HIPAA cases were brought on due to improper data breach disclosures.
Throughout the year, hospitals and health systems have settled with HHS' Office for Civil Rights and have agreed to undergo corrective action plans. Below are nine HIPAA settlements of 2019.
Editor's note: The list is organized in chronological order from newest to oldest.
1. Medical Informatics Engineering, a medical records service provider, agreedto pay the Office for Civil Rights at HHS $100,000 to settle a HIPAA breach.
2. Touchstone Medical Imaging agreedto pay $3 million to the Office for Civil Rights at HHS to settle allegations that the medical imaging provider violated HIPAA.
3. Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Cottage Health agreedto pay $3 million and implement a corrective action plan as part of a HIPAA settlement to resolve allegations it had unintentionally disclosed electronic patient information.
4. Allscripts reached a tentative agreement with the Department of Justice to pay $145 million to settle investigations of the EHR vendor's subsidiary Practice Fusion's compliance with HIPAA and the anti-kickback statute, according to company officials.
5. Bayfront Health St. Petersburg (Fla.) agreed to pay $85,000 for violating the HIPAA Right of Access rule.
6. Miami-based Jackson Health System was slapped with a $2.15 million fine from HHS' Office for Civil Rights for HIPAA violations that spanned between 2013 and 2016.
7. The University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center has agreed to pay $3 million to HHS' Office for Civil Rights to settle potential HIPAA violations.
8. The Office for Civil Rights at the HHS slapped the Texas Health and Human Services Commission with a $1.6 million fine for HIPAA violations.
9. Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Hospitals has agreed to pay the Office for Civil Rights $2.175 million to settle alleged HIPAA violations.