Protecting the privacy of patient’s health information is a main concern among health care providers today. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 known as HIPAA was approved by law to safeguard not only patients but also health care workers. However, sometimes people tend to violate these laws unintentionally or sometimes intentionally. According to an article from the Department of Health and Human Service website (2011), HHS imposes a $4.3 million civil money penalty for violating HIPAA privacy rules on Cignet Health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). This paper will elaborate on the violation issue of Cignet Health and the population it affects most, the ethical and legal issues reported, and explain the managerial responsibilities related to this issue. Additionally, this paper will elaborate on any proposed solutions and what arguments or facts used to support the proposed solution.
HHS delivered a Notification of Final Determination regarding a violation of privacy rules to Cignet Health. Cignet Health dishonored 41 patient’s privileges by denying the patients access to his or her medical records when requested from September 2008 through October 2009. Each patient filed a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights that prompted an investigation. During the investigation, Cignet declined to reply to the Office of Civil Rights request of providing the documents and failed to collaborate with the inquiry of the grievances and to produce the records in response to the summons by OCR. Moreover, Cignet continually did not cooperate with the enquiry (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). This issue will not only hurt Cignet but also other in health care organizations that do not follow HIPPA Laws. According to the article, Department of Health and Human Services will continue to investigate and take action against organizations who knowingly disregard their obligations under the HIPPA
References: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/02/20110222a.html