By Jack Anderson
July 12, 2013
It was only taken 4 years but OCR and HHS have finally hit Wellpoint with a $1.4 million dollar fine for one of their business associates doing a software upgrade that exposed 612,402 patient records exposed on the Internet. The old “ounce of prevention” rule certainly applies here. Using our BA Tracker they could have surveyed all of their BAs for under a thousand dollars and found the ones that did not have proper policies and procedures in place. In the current stage of HIPAA rules you simply must monitor you BAs or it will surely bite you someplace painful, like you wallet.
Here is the the email which includes a link to the HHS statement:
From: OCR HIPAA Privacy Rule information distribution [mailto:OCR-PRIVACY-LIST@LIST.NIH.GOV] On Behalf Of OS OCR PrivacyList, OCR (HHS/OS)
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 2:51 PM
To: OCR-PRIVACY-LIST@LIST.NIH.GOV
Subject: WellPoint, Inc. Settles HIPAA case for $1.7 million
The managed care company WellPoint Inc. has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $1.7 million to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules. This case sends an important message to HIPAA-covered entities to take caution when implementing changes to their information systems, especially when those changes involve updates to Web-based applications or portals that are used to provide access to consumers’ health data using the Internet.
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) began its investigation following a breach report submitted by WellPoint as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, or HITECH Act. The HITECH Breach Notification Rule requires HIPAA-covered entities to notify HHS of a breach of unsecured protected health information. The report indicated that security weaknesses in an online application database left the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of 612,402 individuals accessible to unauthorized individuals over the Internet. OCR’s investigation indicated that WellPoint did not implement appropriate administrative and technical safeguards as required under the HIPAA Security Rule.
The investigation indicated WellPoint did not:
• adequately implement policies and procedures for authorizing access to the on-line application database
• perform an appropriate technical evaluation in response to a software upgrade to its information systems
• have technical safeguards in place to verify the person or entity seeking access to electronic protected health information maintained in its application database.
As a result, beginning on Oct. 23, 2009, until Mar. 7, 2010, the investigation indicated that WellPoint impermissibly disclosed the ePHI of 612,402 individuals by allowing access to the ePHI of such individuals maintained in the application database. This data included names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, telephone numbers and health information.
Whether systems upgrades are conducted by covered entities or their business associates, HHS expects organizations to have in place reasonable and appropriate technical, administrative and physical safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information – especially information that is accessible over the Internet. Beginning Sept. 23, 2013, liability for many of HIPAA’s requirements will extend directly to business associates that receive or store protected health information, such as contractors and subcontractors.
The Press Release can be found on the HHS News page: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2013pres/07/20130711b.html and the Resolution Agreement can be found on the OCR website at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/enforcement/examples/wellpoint-agreement.html.