A dental practice in Texas that responded to patients’ Yelp reviews by disclosing patient names and other health information has gotten a bad review from federal regulators: A $10,000 HIPAA monetary settlement and a corrective action plan.
In a statement Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services said the settlement with Elite Dental Associates of Dallas centered on a patient complaint received in 2016 by HHS’ Office of Civil Rights, which enforces HIPAA.
The patient alleged that Elite had responded to a Yelp social media review by disclosing the patient’s last name and details of the patient’s health condition. “OCR’s investigation found that Elite had impermissibly disclosed the protected health information of multiple patients in response to patient reviews on the Elite Yelp review page,” OCR says in the statement.
Source: HHS Gives Dental Practice Posting PHI on Yelp a Bad Review / GovInfoSecurity