HIPAA Violations - Nurses

Becoming a licensed nurse requires years of education, significant financial investment, and a commitment to extensive clinical training. A fundamental aspect of a nurse's profession is maintaining patient confidentiality and privacy, as mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). While nurses are dedicated to providing quality patient care, they can sometimes face allegations of HIPAA violations, which can have severe consequences.

A single complaint of a HIPAA violation can jeopardize a nurse's career, regardless of their years of experience or dedication to continuing education. Even first-time violations can put a nurse at risk of losing their license and the ability to practice in the medical field. Since medical facilities are responsible for enforcing HIPAA amongst their staff, nurses stand to face disciplinary actions both from their employers and their state nursing board following a HIPAA violation. When the nursing board learns about the potential violation, it may launch a licensure disciplinary procedure if the HIPAA violation is serious enough.

The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team recognizes the daily challenges nurses encounter that can lead to complaints of HIPAA violations. Given the critical nature of their work, it's essential for nurses to have a robust defense to protect their licensure. Our team is committed to defending nurses against HIPAA violation allegations, ensuring they receive the due process they deserve. Protect your career and livelihood with the experienced defense team at the Lento Law Firm. Call 888-535-3686 or fill out our contact form with your information to schedule a consultation.

What Is a HIPAA Violation?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires all medical professionals to treat patient information confidentially. The HIPAA Privacy Security Rules protect the medical records and other personal health information (PHI) of patients. Medical facilities such as clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes are responsible for ensuring staff members are HIPAA compliant. If a nurse is accused of a violation, it could mean big trouble for both the nurse and the employer.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has an Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is responsible for enforcing HIPAA rules. The OCR investigates complaints, conducts compliance reviews, and performs education and outreach. Healthcare organizations are required to create their own HIPAA violation and sanction policies for dealing with employees who accidentally or knowingly violate HIPAA. These organizations can, however, get civil fines imposed by the OCR if a violation is serious enough.

Examples of HIPAA Violations by Nurses

Because every aspect of healthcare information is covered by HIPAA, the list of possible violations is long. Some of the most common are:

• Accessing PHI of patients you're not required to treat
• Gossiping about patients and disclosing their health information to friends, family, or colleagues
• Take PHI from your old job to a new employer
• Disclosing PHI to anyone who's not authorized to receive it, including unauthorized colleagues
• Stealing PHI for personal gain
• Using PHI to cause harm
• Throwing away PHI with regular trash
• Leaving PHI in a location or accessible so that unauthorized individuals can access it
• Violating the HIPAA minimum necessary standard
• Using another employee's credentials to access information or sharing login credentials with colleagues

HIPAA Violations on Social Media

Posting PHI on social media is a big issue that's often misunderstood by nurses and healthcare professionals. Sharing any kind of health information on social media websites is against HIPAA—that includes in private Facebook groups and via messaging apps like WhatsApp. Photos or videos of patients count as PHI as well, and unless you have written authorization from a patient beforehand to share, you can get in trouble.

State and Federal Nursing Laws

All states have either a Nursing Practice Act set of laws that govern regulations for nursing practice. These laws set the standards for nursing education, practice rules, and licensure processes. Each state's legislative body enforces the NPA and grants authority to the state's nursing board to license, manage, and discipline all types of nurses, including Practical Nurses (PNs), Vocational Nurses (VNs), Registered Nurses (RNs), and Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs). These boards are all members of the National Council State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), which works to ensure patient safety in nursing care.

The NPA is a state-driven effort, and it's the responsibility of the state boards to protect the public's health, safety, and welfare by regulating nursing practice and preventing substandard care. The Act works in conjunction with HIPAA and aims to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of patient health information.

Nursing Duties and Confidentiality

Nationwide, nursing duties and confidentiality are guided by the NPA. Each state has the authority to establish its own code of conduct, duties, and standards, but all must align with regulatory minimums. Nursing duties encompass a wide range of responsibilities aimed at providing comprehensive care to patients and maintaining patient confidentiality, as mandated by HIPAA.

Nurses must ensure patient privacy, protect sensitive information, and adhere to protocols that prevent unauthorized disclosures. Some of the critical nursing duties concerning privacy and confidentiality, which are supported by the NPA, include:

• Accurate documentation: Nurses meticulously record patient information, care provided, and any changes in condition to maintain a legal record of treatment. These records must be stored in a secure location and nurses shouldn't discuss them with colleagues unless those colleagues are also caring for the patient.
• Coworker communication: Nurses act as liaisons between patients and other healthcare team members, ensuring comprehensive care. They must ensure that they don't provide confidential or HIPAA-protected information to someone who isn't authorized to receive it.
• Supervision and delegation: Senior nurses mentor junior nurses and nursing assistants, ensuring team competence and capability. Nurses who have supervision responsibilities can also be responsible for ensuring their supervisees respect patient privacy and confidentiality correctly.

Nursing duties and confidentiality standards are essential to providing safe, effective, and compassionate patient care. They also protect nurses from allegations of HIPAA violations. However, mistakes can place nurses in a challenging position to defend their credentials. It's crucial to understand what constitutes a breach of HIPAA and licensing standards to maintain compliance and safeguard your career.

Potential Causes of HIPAA Violations

HIPAA is a huge, complex piece of legislation that can be hard to make sense of. As a nurse, you should know what's required of you concerning patient information privacy and security, but your employer also has a responsibility to help educate you on HIPAA violations. They must also communicate their HIPAA violation policy to you clearly so you understand all possible sanctions.

Healthcare settings can be stressful environments, making it easy to slip and commit a HIPAA violation without realizing it. Some of the most common causes of accusations of HIPAA violations are:

• Snapshots and selfies at work: Many nurses take photos at their workplace without verifying what's in the background of the photo. There could be identifying patient information, such as files.
• Using personal phones for photos: You might use your personal smartphone to take a photo of a wound to help gauge how quickly it's healing. However, there could be metadata on the image that makes it identifiable, thereby tracing it back to the patient.
• Large display screens: If you're using a large display monitor to look at patient information at your workstation, it's highly possible someone passing by can see it.
• Discussing a patient with visitors present: When you walk into a patient's room and see they have visitors, it's easy to assume that the patient's medical information can be discussed in front of these visitors. However, you need to ask your patient for authorization first or ask the visitors to step outside while you discuss their medical info. Failure to do so could get you reported for a HIPAA violation.
• Bringing up medical information with someone you know outside of work: It might happen that someone you know—a friend, neighbor, or family member—gets treated at your healthcare facility or even treated by you. When you see them outside of the healthcare facility, you might feel inclined to ask about their health. However, it's a HIPAA violation to do so.
• Talking about patient information with coworkers: Even talking with other nurses about your patients could get you in trouble with HIPAA. Healthcare information is on a need-to-know basis, so unless you need to give your coworkers information about a patient so they can do their job, it's a HIPAA violation.
• Speaking too loudly about patients: It can seem nitpicky, but even speaking loudly, in crowded areas, about a patient can launch a HIPAA complaint.
• Forgetting to lock a filing cabinet: Health records must be stored in secure places that are only accessible to authorized individuals. Simply forgetting to lock a filing cabinet, dropping off records in an insecure area, or even failing to shred a handwritten note about a patient can lead to an accusation of a HIPAA violation.
• Failing to use approved software for sharing patient info: Most healthcare facilities use specific, HIPAA-compliant software to store and manage electronic patient records. Nurses (and other providers) are supposed to only use these approved channels to communicate about patients or send patient info. Sending a text to a coworker to ask about a patient, for example, could lead to trouble.
• Not reporting other violations: If you commit a HIPAA violation by accident, you have to report it to your employer. If it's minor enough, your boss might deal with it internally. If you don't report it, however, and it gets out later that you committed an unreported violation, it can make things much worse than if you had reported it in the first place. You also have to report violations you see being committed by other healthcare providers.

There are many HIPAA regulations you have to remember, and when you're in a stressful environment like a hospital or clinic, it can be easy to forget your HIPAA training. If there's a complaint about you and your employer reports it to the state licensing board, however, the consequences can be severe. The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is ready to support you and guide you as you deal with the accusation.

HIPAA Complaint Procedure and Investigation

Anyone can file a HIPAA complaint concerning health information privacy and security on the HHS website. HHS asks for an entity and provider name on the complaint. It also must be filed 180 days after the person learned of the alleged violation occurring. Typically, the complaint includes details of the supposed violation and may provide initial evidence, such as names of potential witnesses.

Once OCR accepts a complaint for investigation, it notifies the person who filed the complaint and the healthcare facility the complaint pertains to. If you're named in a HIPAA complaint, OCR won't notify you at this stage, but your employer might.

Your employer must provide information about the alleged incident or problem mentioned in the complaint. OCR then reviews all the information and decides if the complaint is valid. If it decides there was HIPAA non-compliance, it may take one of the following actions:

• Voluntary compliance
• Corrective action
• Resolution Agreement

During the complaint and investigation process, your employer deals with OCR, not you. However, depending on the outcome of the investigation and whether your employer is compelled to pay civil penalties to OCR, your employer might decide to take disciplinary action against you. They could also decide to report your violation to the state board of nursing. Some state Nurse Practice Acts also require nurses to self-report a HIPAA violation or other disciplinary action taken by an employer. It's also possible that whoever filed the HIPAA complaint against you also decides to inform the state nursing board. For serious violations, the nursing board usually has a way of finding out.

Since most nursing boards consider it misconduct to share confidential patient information, you may have to undergo an investigation and disciplinary process with the board. This procedure would be separate from the OCR procedure your employer deals with.

State Nursing Board Disciplinary Process

Once your state nursing board learns about your potential HIPAA violation, it can launch a disciplinary procedure against you. This process usually starts with an investigation and includes a hearing and appeals process.

Investigation

The investigation can be pretty comprehensive and may take months to complete. The board probably has members who are tasked with investigating complaints, and it's their job to gather as much information as possible. They may ask to see the complaint that was filed with OCR, interview your employer and colleagues, and collect documents related to the complaint. The board's investigators might go through your public social media profiles to ensure you didn't share confidential information or even ask patients to provide information about you.

Depending on what the investigators find, the case may be closed or continue to a hearing. Usually, the investigative team creates a report with their findings and recommends the next action for the board.

Formal Charges

If the board decides to file charges against you based on the investigative report, there are several ways the case could work out.

1. Settlement conference: The first option is usually some kind of settlement or agreement. The board may ask to meet with you at a conference or meeting and discuss a way to resolve the matter. Usually, this option requires you to accept some responsibility for the accusations, but it lessens the sanctions against you. For example, the board may agree to put you on probation rather than suspending your license.
2. Administrative hearing: If the board doesn't offer a settlement conference or the conference doesn't lead to a satisfying resolution, the next step is an administrative hearing. The board asks an administrative law judge to preside over a hearing, where both you and the board will be able to present arguments. You'll be able to introduce evidence and call or question witnesses. Both you and the board will have the right to be represented by attorneys.
3. Rehabilitation program: In some cases, the board may ask you to enter some kind of training or rehabilitation program. This option is most common with substance abuse cases and less so with HIPAA violations. However, the nursing board could require you to complete a training program to show that you fully understand HIPAA obligations. It may also require on-the-job monitoring for a period of time to ensure you're following all the rules.

Appeals

Most nursing boards follow their state's administrative law procedures when it comes to disciplining nurses. These procedures almost always have a way to appeal the board's decision. You may have to take the matter to a circuit court or appeals court and ask for a reconsideration. You can have an attorney assist with this process as well—and it's highly recommended to have an attorney since appeals in administrative law procedures can be complex.

Sanctions and Consequences for Nurses

One of the most serious consequences nurses can have for HIPAA violations is the loss of their nursing license. Minor or unintentional violations may get you a reprimand from your boss, a small fine, or other informal discipline.

You may also get:

• License probation
• License suspension
• License revocation
• Civil fine

What Can the Lento Law Firm Do for Nurses?

The task of defending your license following accusations of a HIPAA violation can be overwhelming, especially if you attempt to do it alone. While you may have knowledge of healthcare and patient well-being, you may not be familiar with the administrative procedures used by Boards of Nursing, Offices of Attorneys General, the ORC, and other state agencies to investigate complaints and handle rule violations. This is where the Lento Law Firm comes in. Our Professional License Defense team is nationally recognized for helping licensed nurses avoid harsh penalties for malpractice and negligence charges.

At first, hiring a lawyer may seem like a daunting step. However, when your license, job, and livelihood are at risk, having a strong defense is crucial. It can protect you from navigating the disciplinary process alone. Our experienced attorneys are a source of support, dedication, and guidance to assist nurses through the disciplinary process. Hiring the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is a worthwhile investment for several reasons. We provide essential services, such as:

• Building a solid defense: Our attorneys know how to collect evidence and obtain witness testimony to challenge the allegations against you. We are well-versed in HIPAA regulations, allowing us to develop a strategy aimed at achieving the best possible outcome for your case.
• Communicating with board members and representatives: When the licensing board receives complaints, an investigator and other authorities may come knocking on your door. Our team will step in to communicate with the board and other authorities on your behalf, ensuring that you have proper guidance and representation throughout the entire process, including contested care hearings and appeals if necessary.
• Protecting your due process rights: Often, nurses who accept certain forms of discipline, such as informal measures, may unknowingly waive their right to appeal. We will make sure that all options for recourse are available to you, so you do not face any unnecessary license sanctions.
• Assisting with license reinstatement: If your license has been suspended or revoked, regaining your credentials can be a lengthy and difficult process. Our team will advise you on the proper protocols to follow when reapplying, including fulfilling any requirements from state agencies.

Reach Out to the Lento Law Firm Today

With the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team, you can receive support in handling complaints, investigations, and penalties related to HIPAA violations as a licensed nurse. Our team is well-equipped to represent you and understands how nursing boards and other state agencies oversee nursing license regulations, ensuring the protection of your credentials. If you want our assistance working toward the best possible outcome for your license status, contact us at 888-535-3686 or visit our online form to schedule a confidential consultation. We will promptly reach out to you.