2020 HIPAA Violation Cases and Penalties
HIPAA Journal
Steve Alder
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) settled 19 HIPAA violation cases in 2020. More financial penalties were issued in 2020 than in any other year since the Department of Health and Human Services was given the authority to enforce HIPAA compliance. $13,554,900 was paid to OCR to settle the HIPAA violation cases.
Penalties for Noncompliance with the HIPAA Right of Access
In late 2019, the OCR announced a new HIPAA enforcement initiative to tackle noncompliance with the Right of Access standard of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Since then, OCR has been highly active and has imposed 14 financial penalties for noncompliance, 11 of which were announced in 2020.
The HIPAA Right of Access standard – 45 C.F.R. § 164.524(a) – gives...