Indiana and Ohio non-profit Parkview Health System has reached a deal with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule that occurred when boxes of medical records were delivered to the home of a retiring doctor when she was not there.

According to the government and the doctor, Christine Hamilton, M.D., Parkview Health System, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, took custody of her paper medical records while assisting her patients in transitioning to new providers as Dr. Hamilton was retiring. Parkview was also reportedly considering purchasing Dr. Hamilton’s practice, but when it did not, it arranged to return the records.

Unfortunately, on June 4, 2009, when Parkview employees delivered the 71 cardboard boxes containing HIPPA protected health information on approximately 5,000 to 8,000 patients to Dr. Hamilton’s home, they left them in her driveway because she was not there.

Although there is no evidence the boxes were disturbed, they could have been. According to the government, the boxes were left within 20 feet of the public road and a short distance from a public shopping venue. In addition, Parkview had, according to the government, been notified that Dr. Hamilton would not be home and delivered the boxes anyway.

To make amends for the now nearly 5-year-old violation, Parkview will pay $800,000 and adopt a corrective action plan that includes providing additional training to all its employees on HIPAA compliance. According to Parkview’s website, it currently has 8,700 employees.

Christina Heide, acting deputy director of health information privacy at OCR, was upfront in the press release about the hope that a sizeable fine for an incident with only the potential and not the actual exposure of protected health information would serve as a lesson for other healthcare providers.

“All too often we receive complaints of records being discarded or transferred in a manner that puts patient information at risk,” she stated. “It is imperative that HIPAA covered entities and their business associates protect patient information during its transfer and disposal.”

Earlier this month, an HHS attorney predicted the next year would be a big year for HIPAA fines (read the story), and as the Parkview case shows, it is not all about electronic health record mistakes leading to public disclosures of protected health information. The OCR's frequently asked questions (FAQ) document on disposal of protected health information offers some helpful tips on situations like the one in the Parkview case. These include:

• Get agreements to protect personal health information from any business associated hired to dispose of materials containing protected health information. This includes prescritpion bottles bearing names.
• Never put materials containing protected health information in a dumpster, unless the dumpster is locked.
• Train everyone within your organization on how to handle and dispose of personal health information. This includes volunteers who may assist with disposal.