Gunster health care law attorney Bill Dillon recently weighed in on the importance of HIPAA violations and the potential criminal penalty risk for healthcare organizations and individuals.
In the Healthcare Risk Management article, Dillon and other attorneys highly knowledgeable on HIPAA laws urge organizations to educate their employees about the risks and what would cause criminal penalties to be sought. Dillon suggests focusing those education efforts on actions of intentional violations. “Criminal prosecutions are reserved for intentional acts that cause harm. If you have a nurse who mistakenly faxes a document to the wrong number — that’s not a criminal act,” Dillon says. “But people who knowingly misuse patient identification need to know that there is this risk, that the government looks on those situations very differently.”
Bill Dillon is Board Certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist in the area of Health Care law. Although Dillon represents health care providers and entities in administrative and regulatory matters, his primary focus is on helping providers and entities to steer clear of activities that could be considered non-compliant.
Read the full article: Educate staff on criminal prosecution risk
