From Report on Patient Privacy - As 2016 comes to a close, HIPAA covered entities (CEs) and business associates (BAs) should catch their breath and reflect on what the HHS Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) record year actually means — to entities other than the unfortunate 13 organizations fined a total of $24.5 million. The total far outpaces OCR’s previous high, set in 2014, of $7.5 million. (The most recent entity fined was with the University of Massachusetts Amherst — see story, below). This year was one for the record books, not just for the number of settlements and amounts. Read more