The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights fined New England Dermatology and Laser Center $300,640 for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule. The health center was found to have improperly deleted protected health information when it threw out specimen containers with labels carrying patient names, birthdates, dates of sample collection and name of the provider who took the specimen. In addition to the fine, OCR served NEDLC a corrective actions plan that is highlighted by two years of agency monitoring.