Loss of a Single Laptop Leads to $50k Fine Against Idaho Hospice

Posted by Unknown on Monday January 7, 2013 @01:14PM from the sterm-talking-to dept.

netbuzz writes "Losing a single laptop containing sensitive personal information about 441 patients will cost a non-profit Idaho hospice center $50,000, marking the first such HIPAA-related penalty involving fewer than 500 data-breach victims. Yes, the data was not encrypted. 'This action sends a strong message to the health care industry that, regardless of size, covered entities must take action and will be held accountable for safeguarding their patients' health information,' says the Department of Health and Human Services."

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Government penalizers doing... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-07 13:25 · Score: 5, Insightful

...what govt penalizers do best: pick on those least capable of defending themselves... in other words go after the low hanging fruit and don't bother with the really hard stuff like rich, for-profit hospitals and clinics that routinely violate HIPAA... because those have armies of high-dollar lawyers who'll make life hard on the govt if they attempt to go after them.