May 8, 2023, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights announced a settlement with David Mente, MA, LPC, a licensed counselor providing psychotherapy services in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, concerning a potential violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule’s right of access provision. The rule requires that patients be able to access their health information in a timely manner. This investigation marks the 44th case to be resolved under OCR’s HIPAA Right of Access Initiative, designed to improve compliance by regulated entities with the law. Under the resolution agreement (RA), Mente must respond to the right of access request without delay, implement a corrective action plan (CAP) to be in compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule and pay a resolution amount of $15,000. In December of 2017, a complaint was filed with OCR alleging that Mente would not provide a father (personal representative) with a copy of his three minor children’s medical records. OCR provided technical assistance to Mente on the requirements of the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s right of access requirements and closed the complaint. The father requested his children’s records again in April 2018, and despite OCR’s prior technical assistance, Mente still failed to respond to the request, leading to the father filing a second complaint. OCR’s investigation of this complaint determined that Mente’s failure to provide timely access to the requested medical records was a potential violation of the HIPAA right of access provision.
