A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administrative Law Judge found Lincare in violation of HIPAA, ruling that the company had to pay the Office for Civil Rights $239,800 in fines, the agency announced in a statement. The ruling is the culmination of an investigation that found employee negligence and a lack of privacy safeguards led to the exposure of client data. “The decision in this case validates the findings of our investigation,” said OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels. “All covered entities … must ensure that, if their workforce members take protected health information off-site, they have adequate policies and procedures that provide for the reasonable and appropriate safeguarding of that PHI,” she added.
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