The number of fines levied by the government during 2003 to 2006 because of poor protection of medical data was 66 fines.
What were the fines issued for ?
These fines were issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which mandates that covered entities safeguard patient health information.
The violations that led to these fines ranged from unauthorized access to patient records to inadequate disposal of protected health information.
The number of fines issued per year in the period were:
- 2003: 17 fines
- 2004: 12 fines
- 2005: 21 fines
- 2006: 16 fines
One example of a protection of medical data violation was when a health insurance company was fined $1.3 million for failing to destroy patient records properly, which allowed unauthorized individuals to access the records.