The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights imposed a $70,000 monetary penalty against a Maryland dental practice for failing to provide timely access to patient records.
The Office for Civil Rights received a complaint against Gums Dental Care in Silver Spring, Md., alleging that the practice failed to provide a patient access to her and her children’s medical records. The office sent a letter to the practice notifying it of its obligation to provide the records, and later launched an investigation after the patient filed a second complaint.
The OCR's investigation revealed that the complainant submitted written requests for the records in April 2019 and again in June 2019. The practice did not attempt to provide the records until May 2022, which violated the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s right of access provisions, according to an Oct. 17 news release.