HIPAA and the courts - still undecided?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is raising new legal fears for health care providers in light of tougher government enforcement and recent court rulings that could trigger private lawsuits.
Labor and employment attorneys who represent health care providers are especially concerned about the prospect of private HIPAA litigation because the law does not currently provide a private right of action. But plaintiffs appear to be getting around that. They say that courts in recent years have begun letting plaintiffs use HIPAA standards to prove liability in privacy lawsuits alleging that their sensitive medical records were inadequately protected.
For example, in Utah, a doctor is facing a lawsuit after an appeals court last year cited HIPAA standards in determining that the physician owed a duty of confidentiality to his patients, and allowed the case to proceed. Sorensen v. Barbuto, 143 P.3d 295 (Utah Ct. App. 2006).
In North Carolina, a similar case is pending after an appeals court allowed a privacy claim to proceed based on the standard of care HIPAA establishes for protection of patient medical records. Acosta v. Byrum, 638 S.E.2d 246 (N.C. Ct. App. 2006).
Law.com - Hospitals Fear Privacy Claims Over Medical Records
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