Wearing Stripes in a Rocking Chair

On February 23, 2021 the Department of Justice issued a press release about an administrator of a California hospice agency who was ordered to pay $2.1 million and serve 30 months in prison for his part in a $28 million Medicare fraud scheme.  The administrator paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters for referring people to […]

The Hits Just Keep Coming!

On November 6, 2020 the Office for Civil Rights issued a press release announcing the settlement of its Tenth investigation under the Right to Access Initiative. I have written about this initiative before in this blog but in light of the fact it seems like there is a new press release on the subject every […]

“Systemic Noncompliance” – The New OCR Buzz Phrase

privacy, security, HIPAA, compliance, OCR, fines, penalties, health information

On September 21, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a press release announcing a $1.5 million settlement with Athens Orthopedic Clinic.  The basis for the breach report that led to the settlement was the fact a journalist notified Athens Orthopedic a database of their patient records had been posted online for sale.  Two […]