2016 served as evidence of two looming and growing issues in health IT: data breaches and HIPAA settlements.
Not only did the number of data breaches and cyberattacks increase throughout the year, but HHS' Office for Civil Rights also continued to become more aggressive in enforcing HIPAA regulations.
Here are six of the largest HIPAA settlement fines in 2016 as reported by Becker's Hospital Review.
1. Advocate Health Care (Downers Grove, Ill.): $5.55 million. In the biggest to-date HIPAA payment involving one entity, Advocate agreed to pay $5.55 million to HHS' Office for Civil Rights to settle claims that it violated HIPAA. Read more
2. Feinstein Institute for Medical Research (Manhasset, N.Y.): $3.9 million. The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, a biomedical research institute that falls under the Great Neck, N.Y.-based Northwell Health enterprise, agreed to settle potential HIPAA violations with a $3.9 million payment. Read more
3. University of Mississippi Medical Center (Jackson): $2.75 million. The medical center agreed to pay $2.75 million and adopt a corrective action plan to resolve HIPAA violations concerning a stolen laptop that breached the information of approximately 10,000 individuals. Read more
4. Oregon Health & Science University (Portland): $2.7 million. OHSU signed a resolution agreement with HHS' Office for Civil Rights regarding two data breaches from 2013 that includes a $2.7 million payment. Read more
5. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York City): $2.2 million. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital agreed to pay a $2.2 million HIPAA settlement fine, update its privacy policies and improve staff training after it allowed television crews to film patients without their consent. Read more
6. St. Joseph Health (Irvine, Calif.): $2.14 million. St. Joseph Health agreed to pay $2.14 million to settle claims that it violated HIPAA after not changing the default settings on its new server. Read more
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