Parkview settles record dumping case for $800,000

An Indiana provider faces $800,000 in HIPAA violations after employees left 71 boxes of records outside a physician's home.

In addition to the settlement, Parkview Health System agreed to adopt a corrective action plan to address deficiencies in its HIPAA compliance program. With headquarters in Fort Wayne, Ind., Parkview provides healthcare services to individuals in northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio.

The Department of Health & Human Services' Office of Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation after receiving a complaint from a retiring physician alleging that Parkview had violated the HIPAA Privacy Rule, according to a release. In September 2008, Parkview took custody of medical records pertaining to approximately 5,000 to 8,000 patients while assisting the retiring physician to transition her patients to new providers, and while considering the possibility of purchasing some of the physician’s practice. On June 4, 2009, Parkview employees, with notice that the physician was not at home, left 71 cardboard boxes of these medical records unattended and accessible to unauthorized persons on the driveway of the physician’s home, within 20 feet of the public road and a short distance away from a heavily trafficked public shopping venue.

“All too often we receive complaints of records being discarded or transferred in a manner that puts patient information at risk,” said Christina Heide, acting deputy director of health information privacy at OCR, in the release. “It is imperative that HIPAA-covered entities and their business associates protect patient information during its transfer and disposal.”

The Resolution Agreement can be found on the OCR website.