In June 2023, the US. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reached an agreement with Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital over a significant breach of privacy and security rules. Specifically, HHS found that several security guards had inappropriately accessed the private records of up to 419 patients.

This settlement demonstrated administrative and internal security is essential to Covered Entities and Business Associates. We will discuss these controls and what they mean for HIPAA-regulated organizations.