If someone uses fake ID at your practice, you can tell the cops all about it -- but release the alleged perp's name to the press and you may get a $2.4 million fine, as happened to one Texas health system.
As reported in the Houston Chronicle and elsewhere, in September 2015, Blanca Borrego came to one of the offices of Memorial Hermann Health System (MHHS), a not-for-profit system in southeast Texas, for a gynecology appointment. There she presented what employees found to be fake government ID. Borrego had health insurance coverage through her husband, but as an undocumented immigrant had no legitimate U.S. government ID. The staff called the police, and Borrego was arrested and charged with forging a government record.
HHS says in a press release that while MHHS was within its rights under HIPAA to share information about Borrega with the police -- illegal activity being a well-known exception to HIPAA patient privacy rights of patients under the law -- the health system erred in sharing Borrega's identity with the press, letting them know that he was under treatment.
MHHS was investigated by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), fined $2.4 million and put under a comprehensive corrective action plan.
“This case reminds us that organizations can readily cooperate with law enforcement without violating HIPAA, but that they must nevertheless continue to protect patient privacy when making statements to the public and elsewhere," said OCR Director Roger Severino in the release.