While healthcare practitioners are required by the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to keep patients' health information confidential, mistakes happen. These can result in privacy breaches or expose patient health details.

The consequences of HIPAA violation by healthcare professionals can be severe. If you're currently facing disciplinary action due to allegations of a HIPAA violation, your license may be at stake. To ensure that you have a fair chance at fighting the allegations, you need experienced legal help.

At the Lento Law Firm, our Professional License Defense Team is experienced at defending healthcare personnel accused of HIPAA violations or other professional misconduct and provides legal guidance and representation throughout the disciplinary process. Call 888-535-3686 or fill out this confidential contact form to speak to one of our attorneys about your case.

Understanding HIPAA Violations

HIPAA violations span a broad range of actions or errors that healthcare practitioners may not be aware of. These include:

• Incorrect disposal or exposure of patients' paper or digital records
• Unintentionally leaving files or devices unattended in public areas
• Failure to notify patients of a data breach involving their personal health information
• Sharing private information about patient health with an unauthorized entity like friends and family or via unencrypted/non-designated channels
• Discussing a named patient's case on social media without permission
• Unintentionally exposing patient details to others, e.g., a patient overhearing a conversation between two nurses about another patient
• Losing devices containing patient health information

These are some of the instances that could lead to HIPAA violations. Because HIPAA is a federal law and violations carry severe consequences such as exclusion from Medicare, state and national medical boards take HIPAA violation cases very seriously.

They also pursue compliance due to the potential harm that a violation can cause to the patient's mental, physical, and reputational well-being. Examples include identity theft, public embarrassment, property damage, and financial losses.

Consequences of HIPAA Violations

Healthcare professionals facing disciplinary action over a HIPAA violation can suffer severe consequences. Some of these include:

• Hefty monetary fines of up to $2.14 million per violation
• Reprimand
• Civil penalty
• Possible job loss or termination
• Suspension while the investigation is ongoing
• License suspension
• License revocation

All of these are influenced by factors such as:

• Severity of the violation
• Potential for damage to the patient and healthcare organization
• Organizational HIPAA policies
• Unintentional errors, such as mistakenly accessing patient information without authorization

Get Professional License Defense Help

In HIPAA violation cases, ignorance or lacking knowledge can still lead to fines and penalties. So, it doesn't matter if you didn't know or were unaware of the extent of the HIPAA policy.

If your state's medical or healthcare organization's disciplinary board determines that, based on the established Minimum Necessary Information Standard, you ought to know about the possible violation, you may face serious consequences.

The good news is that the allegations can be dismissed with the right legal defense at your disciplinary hearing. The Professional License Defense Team at the Lento Law Firm can help you navigate these issues and get a fair outcome.

Call 888-535-3686 or fill out this contact form to get legal help.