Patient Care Coordinator Gets 1 Year Jail Term for HIPAA Violation
A former patient care coordinator at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has received a 1-year jail term for accessing the medical records of patients and using that information to cause malicious harm contrary to HIPAA.
Sue Kalina, 62, of Butler, PA, had previously worked at UPMC Tri Rivers Musculoskeletal and Allegheny Health Network as a patient care coordinator. On March 30, 2016, while employed by UPMC, Kalina first started accessing patients’ medical records without authorization. She continued to do so until June 15, 2017.
Kalina accessed the records of friends, old classmates, and individuals that she had a grievance with. She used information from the medical records in a campaign of vengeance against her former employer, Frank J. Zottola Construction.
Kalina had worked at the firm as office manager for 24 years before losing the position and being replaced by a younger woman. Kalina accessed that woman’s medical records and disclosed gynecological information about the woman to the Zottola controller in June 2017. Kalina also left a voicemail message in which the medical information of the new office manager and one other Zottola employee was disclosed.
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Zottola informed UPMC and Kalina was terminated. She was later hired by Allegheny Health Network where she is alleged to have continued to access patient records without authorization. In total, Kalina accessed the records of 111 patients without authorization.
Kalina took responsibility for her actions but claimed she was going through a difficult time in her life and had health issues. She also claimed she was not aware she was breaking the law and thought she was not prohibited from looking at patient files. Kalina and her legal team were seeking probation due to Kalina’s ongoing family commitments.
Prosecutors argued Kalina had been provided with HIPAA training and was aware that she was breaking the law and to claim ignorance of that was ‘a complete farce.” The U.S. attorney’s office sought a jail term of between 6 and 12 months.
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab said the crimes were particularly egregious. Kalina was sentenced to 12 months in jail followed by 3 years of probation. During that time frame Kalina is not permitted to have any contact with any of the 111 victims.
