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The US Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS) wants people to take HIPAA more seriously. To get compliance they are establishing a new federal investigative agency, the HIPAA Police.
The HIPAA police are coming
Special agent Wyatt Cole with the office of the Inspector General for the HHS is tasked with creating this new police agency.
Agent Cole said this. “In this new era of social media HIPAA violations are becoming rampant. There is a whole cottage industry of people starting Facebook pages to violate HIPAA. The largest violator is EMT/Paramedic, but other pages like Nocturnal Medics and 911 You Can Make this Stuff Up, all also are major violators.”
These pages according to Agent Cole get their content from everyday EMS providers who email HIPAA violating images and stories to them to post. “The problem is not just with EMS pages. Pages for police and fire are also violating HIPAA all the time. Every day I see something on RescueHumor and The Police Blotter that violates HIPAA.”
To combat these pages Agent Cole is assembling a team of special trained personal to comb the internet for HIPAA violations. “We have already served John Doe warrants to Facebook, Gmail, Pinterest and many other web services. When we identify a HIPAA violation we will contact the web service to find out who originally emailed or posted the image. Once we have a name we will then go after the violator.”
HIPAA Police are currently being hired and trained. The agency will start to take enforcement action on January 1, 2014.
The HIPAA Police will initially mail the violator a citation.
First offense will be a $500 fine.
Second will be a $800 fine. A second offense will also cause someone with an EMS license to have their license suspended for 30 days.
After the Second offense a warrant will be issued for the violators arrest.
Third offense is a misdemeanor crime with up to 60 days in jail and a 90 day suspension of any EMS licenses.
Fourth offense or more is also a misdemeanor that could result in 10 months in jail and a life time suspension of any EMS licenses.
Agent cole said this. “The HIPAA Police will be real. You are all on notice now that come New Years there will be a real crack down. If violators want to reform their ways that is great, we will leave them alone. But anyone failing to heed this warning now will pay, that is my mission.”
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