HIPAA News

Your #1 source for info about HIPAA, HIPAA compliance, HIPAA privacy and the latest HIPAA lawsuits

  • Home
  • Archives
  • Links
  • RSS Feed
  • Follow @hipaanews on Twitter
  • Follow HIPAA News on LinkedIn
  • Like HIPAA News on Facebook

HIPPA Violations Scarier than Surgical Fires?

January 12, 2011 by melanierivera

Wonder just how worried hospital administrators are about potential HIPAA breeches due to IT failure and mistakes? According to a poll taken and published by Healthcare IT News worried enough to put IT failures at number five on their Top Ten list of general technology hazards an institution might face.

According to that report the prospect of a data disaster that leads to a costly HIPPA breech is scarier than luer mis connections, over sedation, needle sticks, surgical fires and defibrillator failures.

Is this a bit of an over reaction? Surgical fires and needle sticks sound a lot more serious than data loss. However given the increasing number of HIPPA violations reported around the country in 2010 and in many cases the costly fines and horrendous publicity that came with them make this kind of concern understandable.

Some of these violations would never have been prevented by even the most sophisticated of IT security systems though. Take the recent reports about a physician who transmitted a great deal of personal patient information via email to his home in a completely insecure and unencrypted manner.

There was no malice involved, the man was merely trying to have the information at hand to review properly at the end of his long day. The story though highlighted the continuing need for the education of everyone who handles PI in what is and is not allowable under the HIPPA rules and regulations.

Share this:

  • Tweet

Related

Posted in: HIPAA Laws, HIPAA News, HIPAA Regulations Tagged: HIPAA education, HIPAA laws, HIPAA vioations, patient information, PI

Subscribe to new HIPAANews.net posts via Email:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

RSS Latest HIPAA News from Around the Web

  • U.S. District Court Ruling Vacates HIPAA Final Rule that Strengthened Privacy Protections for Reproductive Health Information – Ropes & Gray LLP July 14, 2025
  • Email Data Breaches Reported by Three HIPAA-Regulated Entities – The HIPAA Journal July 14, 2025
  • How does HIPAA protect your health data? Free class offers answers – Cleveland.com July 14, 2025
  • Community Care Alliance Agrees to Pay $1.09 Million to Settle Class Action Ransomware Lawsuit – The HIPAA Journal July 14, 2025
  • Free Emergency Fax Service Helps Texas Flood Victims Stay Connected: Healthcare Providers Get Priority Access – Stock Titan July 14, 2025
  • Otter.ai Achieves HIPAA Compliance – MarTech Cube July 14, 2025
  • Otter.ai Achieves HIPAA Compliance – MarTech Cube July 14, 2025
  • HHS Reaches $225,000 Settlement With Deer Oaks Over HIPAA Violations and Data Breaches – MyChesCo July 14, 2025
  • Why Grok 4 could be the next leap for HIPAA-compliant clinical AI – KevinMD.com July 12, 2025
  • Employer Wellness Programs – Legal Landscape of Staying Compliant – The National Law Review July 12, 2025

Recent Posts

  • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance
  • Doc Vader on ER Misuse
  • HIPAA Privacy Complaints
  • 2017 is Raising the Bar for Annual HIPAA Breaches
  • Ensuring Availability of HIPAA During Natural Disasters

RSS HIPAA Book Reviews

  • HIPAA video
  • 11 Years of HIPAA and it’s still not easy for consumers
  • HIPAA Checklists
  • Five Essential HIPAA Books for Beginners
  • Top 10 highest-rated HIPAA books for IT Managers

Copyright © 2025 HIPAA News.

Lifestyle WordPress Theme by themehit.com