On November 19, 2015, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center (“Lahey”) entered into an $850,000 settlement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) for alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or “HIPAA”. As part of the settlement, Lahey must adopt a robust corrective action plan, which became operational on November 19, 2015, and will last for two years.

The settlement reinforces the importance of conducting HIPAA risk assessments with respect to the individually identifiable information in electronic form that is protected by HIPAA, referred to as “electronic protected health information” or “ePHI.”  The settlement also underscores that covered entities must timely identify and respond to security incidents, and promptly mitigate any harmful effects. In addition, the settlement highlights the critical nature of physical workstation security, in particular where health care delivery involves the use of portable devices that store ePHI, and the value of employing technical solutions that encrypt data at rest that is stored on portable devices.