The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported a record year in Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) enforcement, with settlement payments totaling $28.7 million. This is a 22% increase from the previous record achieved in 2016. HHS entered into 10 settlements (each with a corrective action plan) and obtained one summary judgement to reach this total. The OCR also had, in 2018, the single largest individual HIPAA settlement in history, a $16 million settlement with Anthem, Inc.
According to OCR Director, Roger Severino, "Our record year underscores the need for covered entities to be proactive about data security if they want to avoid being on the wrong end of an enforcement action." A summary of OCR's 2018 HIPAA settlements is available here.
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