![\"HIPAAXViolationsXAreXTurningXIntoXPrisonXSentencesXForXSome\"](\"https:\/\/sitesdev.net\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/HIPAAXViolationsXAreXTurningXIntoXPrisonXSentencesXForXSome.jpg\")
The unfortunate reality is that most instances of hacking occur from within a company itself. It\u2019s true that the high profile cases that make the news are successful breaches from outside the company, but the statistics bear out the fact that this is less common than internal breaches.<\/p>\n
Recently, an employee of Tampa General Hospital was not only responsible for a variety of HIPAA violations, but was actually sentenced to, and is serving jail time for the breach, underscoring just how critical proper data security procedures and employee vetting are in instances like these.<\/p>\n
The case in question saw the employee with access to sensitive patient information for thousands of patients, use it improperly, filing at least 29 bogus tax returns requesting refunds totaling nearly a quarter of a million dollars.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s not alone. In fact, the Department of Justice has displayed a new eagerness to go after HIPAA violations, adding yet more teeth to the already severe fines companies can face when violations are found.<\/p>\n
With this in mind, it\u2019s clear that proper employee training isn\u2019t enough. It\u2019s clear that having robust data handling procedures isn\u2019t enough either, at least not by itself. Had the hospital had sufficient auditing procedures in place, it\u2019s very likely that they could have caught the improper access of patient data in time to catch the employee before any damage could be done.<\/p>\n
If you deal with HIPAA regulations in the conduct of your business, you know how challenging it can be just to meet the minimum standards in place, but as cases like these indicate, you need to go above and beyond even that high bar. We can help. If you\u2019re concerned about your company\u2019s data handling procedures and want to make sure you\u2019re doing all that you can to ensure compliance, contact us today and we\u2019ll assign a member of our knowledgeable team to you, perform an assessment of your current procedures, and help ensure you are, and remain fully compliant with the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The unfortunate reality is that most instances of hacking occur from within a company itself. It\u2019s true that the high profile cases that make the news are successful breaches from outside the company, but the statistics bear out the fact that this is less common than internal breaches. Recently, an employee of Tampa General Hospital […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[30],"yoast_head":"\n