Dallas dental practice agrees to pay $10K to settle HIPAA violation case

Dentists

Dallas-based Elite Dental agreed to pay $10,000 to HHS’ Office for Civil Rights and implement a corrective action plan to settle potential HIPAA violations, according to an Oct. 2 news release. 

A patient filed a complaint in June 2016 alleging that Elite, a privately-owned dental practice, disclosed his or her last name and health condition in a Yelp review response.

An OCR investigation found that the dental practice disclosed multiple patients' protected health information on Yelp and didn't have a policy regarding patient information or compliance with HIPAA regulations for social media.

The $10,000 settlement is a substantially reduced amount due to the practice’s size, financial circumstances and cooperation with OCR. Elite will be monitored for HIPAA compliance over the next two years.

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