According to a news release posted by Health and Human Services on July 27th, Rite Aid, the Pennsylvania-based national drug store chain will pay a $1 million dollar fine to settle potential violations of HIPAA. It also signed a “consent order” to settle other charges in connection with the charges brought by the FTC.
The charges stemmed from a series of incidents where Rite Aid (and affiliates) casually discarded protected health information (PHI).
HHS and the FTC jointly stated that “Rite Aid failed to implement adequate policies and procedures to appropriately safeguard patient information during the disposal process;” that “Rite Aid failed to adequately train employees on how to dispose of such information properly;” and, that “Rite Aid did not maintain a sanctions policy for members of its workforce who failed to properly dispose of patient information.”
Source: Helath and Human Services
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