HIPAA stands for health insurance portability and accountability act.The act provides federal protection for personal health information held by covered entities and rights with respect to that information. Violations are imposed by high penalties.
As per the act, in 2011, Cignet Health was imposed $4.3 million for failing to provide 41 patients copies of their medical information upon request. In 2009 CVS Care Co. was fined $2.25 million for failing to provide adequate policies and procedures.
In 2011, when 3,898 investigations conducted, only 1,303 cases were not violating the act, 2,595 cases were corrected.