HIPAA Business Associate Fined $75,000 for Maintaining ePHI on an Unsecured Server
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has agreed to settle potential HIPAA violations with the HIPAA business associate, iHealth Solutions, LLC, for $75,000.
iHealth Solutions, doing business as Advantum Health, failed to secure one of its servers, which was accessed by an unauthorized individual who exfiltrated files that contained the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of 267 individuals. The HIPAA enforcement action shows that even relatively small data breaches can be investigated by OCR and result in a financial penalty. The last three penalties imposed by OCR to resolve HIPAA violations were all related to data breaches that affected fewer than 500 individuals.
Like many HIPAA-regulated entities that have been investigated by OCR after reporting data breaches, iHealth Solutions was discovered to have failed to comply with one of the most fundamental provisions of the HIPAA Rules – the risk analysis. All HIPAA-regulated entities must conduct an accurate, thorough, organization-wide risk analysis to identify all risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI – 45 C.F.R. §164.502(a).
OCR was notified about the data breach on August 22, 2017, and was informed that the ePHI of 267 individuals had been exfiltrated from the unsecured server on May 2, 2017. The fine was imposed for the impermissible disclosure of ePHI and the risk analysis failure.
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In addition to the financial penalty, iHealth Solutions has agreed to implement a corrective action plan which includes the requirement to conduct an accurate and thorough assessment of the potential security risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of iHealth’s ePHI, develop a risk management plan to address and mitigate all security risks identified in the risk analysis, develop a process to evaluate any environmental or operational changes that affect the security of iHealth ePHI, and develop, maintain, and revise, as necessary, written policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. OCR will monitor iHealth Solutions for two years to ensure compliance with the HIPAA Rules.
“HIPAA business associates must protect the privacy and security of the health information they are entrusted with by HIPAA-covered entities,” said OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer. “Effective cybersecurity includes ensuring that electronic protected health information is secure, and not accessible to just anyone with an internet connection.”
This is the 7th OCR enforcement action of 2023 to result in a financial penalty, and the third enforcement action to be announced by OCR this month. So far this year, OCR has fined HIPAA-regulated entities a total of $1,976,500 to resolve violations of the HIPAA Rules. See HIPAA Violation Fines.
