First-of-its-kind HIPAA settlement announced, Idaho hospice group to pay

Healthcare IT News: In what's been billed as the first HIPAA breach settlement involving fewer than 500 patients, Hospice of North Idaho (HONI) will pay the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $50,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations stemming from a 2010 incident, HHS officials announced Wednesday.

After an unencrypted company laptop containing the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of 441 patients had been stolen in June 2010, officials at the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) began its investigation and found that HONI had not conducted adequate risk analysis to safeguard patient ePHI.

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