Newspaper violated HIPAA, federal complaint alleges

A group of physicians and community leaders have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights in San Francisco alleging that the Los Angeles Times and the county health department violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, also known as HIPAA, by revealing confidential patient information in stories about alleged lapses in care at a hospital, according to an AP report at the First Amendment Center. The Times’ five-part series, published last month, profiled dozens of patients and their family members who alleged mistreatment and lapses in patient care at the Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in South Los Angeles.