HIPAA Violations Lawyers

Health Information Privacy and Security

It was recently published that the average cost of a healthcare data breach increased to 9 million dollars. Our HIPAA lawyers have years of expertise advising our clients about HIPAA privacy and security responsibilities, obligations, and failure to follow compliance. Oftentimes, especially during the covid-19 pandemic, HIPAA violations are at issue. Usually, the United States Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for issuing HIPAA violations. However, you could also file a lawsuit for your privacy.

What Does HIPAA Stand For?

HIPAA stands for the medical privacy law that is known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This act regulates medical patients’ privacy, and the use of medical patients’ private information.

It is important to get legal counsel if you are a healthcare provider, supplier, entity, or individual and are dealing with a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violation. Doctors and other healthcare professionals have a duty to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patient medical and personal information. If there is a HIPAA violation with patient medical information, then you should talk with our California and Nevada legal healthcare experts that know the laws on HIPAA violations. We have been representing clients who have had their HIPAA rights violated for decades. We are here to help.

 What Does HIPAA Protect?

There are several different types of information that HIPAA protects. This includes:

• Medical records
• Verbal conversations with medical professionals
• Medical billing information
• Your patient profile under the medical insurer’s database

These are all considered “ individually identifiable health information” and are subject to HIPAA’s privacy requirements.

Who Must Comply with HIPAA Regulations?

There are several different types of entities and businesses that must comply with HIPAA regulations. Failure to comply with HIPAA regulations could end up in a potential HIPAA violation lawsuit. These organizations include:

• Doctors
• Pharmacies
• Hospitals
• Health insurance companies
• Health Care Facilities
• Nursing Care Facilities
• Medical Service Providers
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• Law enforcement agencies
• Schools
• Mental health practices
• Health Maintenance Organizations, also known as HMO’s
• Plans sponsored by employment
• Independent Contractors covered by HIPAA for the company they are working for

Failure to comply with HIPAA regulations could result in very heavy fines and penalties. HIPAA regulations are aggressively enforced with very significant monetary payments.

Can a Company Require Me to Take Medical Tests in Order to Be Hired?

You cannot be required by an employer to take a medical examination before you are offered a job, but an employer can require you to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination. But when the company does offer you a job, they could condition on the fact that you take a medical examination. An employer cannot reject the candidate because there has been information about a disability revealed through the medical examination. If you believe you have been discriminated against, contact our experienced discrimination attorneys today.

What Do Our Medical Privacy HIPAA Attorneys Do?

Our experienced attorneys have represented different medical professionals, ranging from state professionals to federal level professionals.

• We assist healthcare providers in making sure that they follow all HIPAA regulations. This includes security and federal patient privacy statutes.
• We make sure that our health care provider clients are following state statutes regarding medical privacy. It is important to hire an experienced attorney that is well-versed with the laws of your state. We have offices located in California and Nevada.
• We assist our clients in developing compliant policies and procedures.
• We assist clients in securing patient information.
• We draft HIPAA agreement between two parties
• We advise our clients with any new state and federal privacy laws that are constantly changing. It is very difficult to keep up with the new privacy laws in your state, and on a federal level. Our attorneys will make sure that you are well aware of the new changes.
• We issue a data breach response plan.
• We respond to formal agency investigations.
• We put together a strategy to plan HIPAA breach violations

If you are in need of any of the above services, contact our HIPAA-compliant attorneys today.

What is the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule?

The HIPAA breach notification rule was published in August of 2019 and states that the disclosure of medical information poses significant risk of financial, reputational, or other harm to the individual. This requires health care providers to show how they have taken the proper measures after a data breach. Once health care providers are able to show that they have taken the proper remedial measures, they may have their liability decreased in court. For example, one of the remedial measures that the U.S. Health Department advises that health care providers send out notifications to all those who may be at risk of a data breach.

Can I Sue Anyone for a HIPAA Violation?

Despite the common misconception, you cannot sue just anyone for a HIPAA violation. HIPAA violations do not necessarily mean that you have a civil private cause of action against the at fault party. Federal law prohibits anyone receiving compensation for any HIPAA violations. But, patients could sue their health care providers under state medical privacy laws. Although the federal government may not allow claims under HIPAA violations, state laws could potentially allow compensation for any HIPPA violation.

HIPAA Lawsuits

Although you cannot sue under a HIPAA violation, there are different other legal claims that your case may fall under. Most recently, several HIPAA violations are being led in class action lawsuits since it has impacted so many people. The different legal cases that we could bring against the at fault party include:

• Negligence
• Breach of fiduciary duty
• Breach of contract
• Privacy violations
• Unsecured personal data
• Medical malpractice

 HIPAA Laws

Several different acts also coincide with HIPAA federal laws. It is important to note that HIPAA is a subset of several different types of rules.These include:

• The Security Rule
• The Privacy Rule
• The Unique Identifiers Rule
• The Omnibus Final Rule
• The Transactions and Code Set Rule

 Who Regulates HIPAA Complaints?

If you believe your medical information has been breached, you could file a HIPAA violation with the Department of Health and Human Services, also referred to as the United States Department of Health.

How to File a HIPAA Complaint

It is important to hire a HIPAA compliance attorney to help submit your complaint to the office for civil rights.

When Can I File a HIPAA Complaint?

It is important to note that every state has a different statute of limitations. However, for HIPAA violations, this time is limited to 180 days to submit a complaint from the day the data breach occurs.

Why Should You Hire Our HIPAA Attorneys?

As a firm that has represented many health care professionals in the past, we know there are many responsibilities required by HIPAA regulations. Get legal advice from a professional legal team that is experienced with HIPAA laws and regulations.

Contact us for a free no risk consultation today. During our consultation, we will discuss the different strategies we can take to ensure that your organization is HIPAA-compliant. If you believe your medical information has been breached, contact us today to see if we could file a negligence claim against the at fault party. Our team has extensive experience with medical privacy.