Nevada health system to pay $75,000 to settle potential HIPAA violation

Renown Health P.C., a private, not-for-profit health system in Nevada, will pay $75,000 to settle a potential violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule's right-of-access standard, according toa news release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

This is the Office for Civil Rights' 15th settlement of an enforcement action as part of its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative. The office announced this initiative to support individuals' right to timely access their health records at a reasonable cost under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, the release stated.

In February 2019, the Office for Civil Rights received a complaint alleging that Renown Health failed to timely respond to a patient's request that an electronic copy of her protected health information, including billing records, be sent to a third party, according to the release. The office's investigation determined that Renown Health’s failure to provide timely access to the requested records was a potential violation of the HIPAA right-of-access standard. As a result of the investigation, Renown Health provided access to all of the requested records.

In addition to the monetary settlement, Renown Health will undertake a corrective action plan that includes two years of monitoring.

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