Snooping in Medical Records by Hospital Security Guards Leads to $240,000 HIPAA Settlement

OCR has announced a settlement with Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, a not-for-profit community hospital located in Yakima, Washington resolving an investigation under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996.  OCR investigated allegations of several security guards from Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, who impermissibly accessed the medical records of 419 individuals. To voluntarily resolve this matter, Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital agreed to pay $240,000 and implement a plan to update its policies and procedures to safeguard protected health information and train its employees to prevent this type of snooping behavior in the future.

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