NYP punished with $2.2M fine for HIPAA breach in filming TV series

New York-Presbyterian Hospital has been punished with $2.2 million under sanctions given by the HHS Office for Civil Rights and has stepped into a corrective action policy for unauthorized filming of 2 sufferers while engaging in the “NY Med” television series.

It was the 2^nd HIPAA violation for the New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP), which 2 years ago paid $3.3 million and Columbia University paid $1.5 million following a 2010 violation in which protected health data on a shared data network was discovered to be approachable on Google and other various Internet search engines.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights claimed the greatest violation was an outcome of errors in NYP’s judgment in permitting filming of the TV series.

 “In specific, OCR discovered that NYP permitted the ABC crew to film someone who was dying and another person in important distress, even after a medical expert emphasized the crew to stop,” an agency stated.

Overall, OCR discovered that NYP offered the network “virtually unfettered approach to its healthcare facility,” which made an atmosphere where PHI could not be secured. “This case sends a significant message that OCR won’t allow covered entities to compromise their sufferers’ privacy by permitting news or TV crews to film the sufferers without their authorization,” OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels claimed in the announcement.

Under a proposed resolution agreement with OCR, the hospital has stepped into a two-year corrective action policy that involves establishing the new policies and processes to make sure that photography, video or audio recordings—for purposes not regarded to the provision of medical care—can just be done with authorization from a sufferer or the patient’s personal representative.

A range of other compulsory policies and processes will govern various problem regarded to such recordings. Particular workforce HIPAA privacy training policies also are spelled out.

NYP released the following statement on the regulatory sanctions:

“New York-Presbyterian reached agreement with the Office for Civil Rights in case to bring closure to OCR’s review procedure.

“Our involvement in the ABC News documentary program “NY Med” was proposed to educate the public and give insight into the complications of medical care and the regular challenges confronted by our dedicated and compassionate medical professionals. This program, and others that preceded it, garnered much acclaim, and raised the public’s consciousness of significant public health problems, involving organ transplantation and donation. It also vividly expressed how our emergency department medical team operates tirelessly each day to save sufferers’ lives. The hospital sustains to maintain that the filming of this documentary program didn’t violate the HIPAA Privacy Rule.”