Editor’s Note: New HIPAA Fines - Soft or Reasonable?
Healthcare & Life Sciences attorney Shannon Hartsfield was recently quoted in a For The Record article which discusses new rules around HIPAA violations and their associated fines. Ms. Hartsfield addresses the different penalty tiers and how these violations would apply to existing laws.
Ms. Hartfield continues, “It makes sense to have different levels of penalties, depending on culpability. Why should someone who did not know about a violation, and could not have known about it even by reasonable diligence, potentially be penalized at the same level as someone who willfully neglected a compliance obligation?”