How HIPAA works

HIPAA works in concert with the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, or HITECH Act (2009).

“Under the HITECH Act, the United States Department of Health and Human Services is spending $25.9 billion to promote and expand the adoption of health information technology.” Wikipedia

Enforcement of this Act has been slow to materialize, but a list of the cases can be found here:

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/enforcement/examples/

An article about the $144 million jury verdict in 2013 can be found here:

http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/

On July 26, a jury in Marion County, Indiana awarded $1.44 million to a Walgreens customer based on allegations that the customer’s pharmacist accessed, reviewed, and shared the customer’s prescription history with others who then used the information to intimidate and harass the customer.