Lahey Clinic

Lahey Hospital and Medical Center (Lahey) has agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Lahey will pay $850,000 and will adopt a robust corrective action plan to correct deficiencies in its HIPAA compliance program. Lahey is a nonprofit teaching hospital affiliated with Tufts Medical School, providing primary and specialty care in Burlington, Massachusetts. Lahey notified OCR that a laptop was stolen from an unlocked treatment room during the overnight hours on August 11, 2011. The laptop was on a stand that accompanied a portable CT scanner; the laptop operated the scanner and produced images for viewing through Lahey’s Radiology Information System and Picture Archiving and Communication System. The laptop hard drive contained the protected health information (PHI) of 599 individuals. Evidence obtained through OCR’s subsequent investigation indicated widespread non-compliance with the HIPAA rules, including: •Failure to conduct a thorough risk analysis of all of its ePHI; •Failure to physically