Making quite the statement on July 15, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced in a press release that it had recently settled an additional 11 cases under its Right to Access Initiative. These settlements bring the total number of enforcement actions under the Initiative to 38.

The settlements, ranging from $3,500 to $240,000, resolved enforcement actions with 11 medical and dental practices that allegedly did not provide their patients with access to their medical records. Memorial Hermann Health System in Texas paid the largest settlement in the amount of $240,000. The OCR alleged that Memorial Hermann Health System did not respond to a patient’s request for medical records for a total of 564 days.

The patient made five separate requests for her records from the medical records department between June 2019 and January 2020, and she was not provided with her records in full until March 26, 2021.

The OCR reminds covered entities that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires covered entities to provide access to patient records, absent an extension, within thirty (30) days of the request. The OCR did not take kindly to a response 564 days after the request was first made.

These settlements reiterate that the OCR continues to focus on the Initiative and covered entities’ compliance with patient request for records. It is timely to revisit processes around responses to patient requests for access to records so the response can be compliant with HIPAA.

Photo of Linn Foster Freedman Linn Foster Freedman

Linn Freedman practices in data privacy and security law, cybersecurity, and complex litigation. She is a member of the Business Litigation Group and the Financial Services Cyber-Compliance Team, and chair’s the firm’s Data Privacy and Security Team. Linn focuses her practice on…

Linn Freedman practices in data privacy and security law, cybersecurity, and complex litigation. She is a member of the Business Litigation Group and the Financial Services Cyber-Compliance Team, and chair’s the firm’s Data Privacy and Security Team. Linn focuses her practice on compliance with all state and federal privacy and security laws and regulations. She counsels a range of public and private clients from industries such as construction, education, health care, insurance, manufacturing, real estate, utilities and critical infrastructure, marine and charitable organizations, on state and federal data privacy and security investigations, as well as emergency data breach response and mitigation. Linn is an Adjunct Professor of the Practice of Cybersecurity at Brown University and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law.  Prior to joining the firm, Linn served as assistant attorney general and deputy chief of the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s Office for the State of Rhode Island. She earned her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law and her B.A., with honors, in American Studies from Newcomb College of Tulane University. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Read her full rc.com bio here.