A Florida primary care provider paid $20,000 to the HHS Office of Civil Rights to settle a complaint that it didn't provide timely access to patient health records under HIPAA, the agency said Dec. 15.
Health Specialists of Central Florida in Orlando also agreed to a corrective action plan with two years of monitoring by OCR.
In 2019, a woman filed a complaint with OCR saying the practice failed to provide her with timely access to her deceased father's medical records, despite multiple requests, in violation of HIPAA's right-of-access standard.
"The right of patients to access their health information is one of the cornerstones of HIPAA, and one that OCR takes seriously," OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer said in a news release. "We will continue to ensure that healthcare providers and health plans take this right seriously and follow the law."