Little Rock - Two women and a doctor who worked for the St. Vincent Health System have pleaded guilty to improperly viewing the medical file of KATV's Anne Pressly.
The pleas were entered Monday in federal court by Dr. Jay Holland and two low-level administrators, Candida Griffin and Sarah Elizabeth Miller.
The three appeared individually before U.S. Magistrate Henry L. Jones after reaching a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office.
The three are to be sentenced after completion of pre-sentence reports. They each face a maximum of a year in federal prison and a $50,000 fine.
Pressly, a KATV morning anchor, was hospitalized after being found severely beaten in her Little Rock home on October 20th. She died five days later.
The following is from a Department of Justice press release issued Monday afternoon:
Dr. Holland, Medical Director of Select Specialty Hospital, located on the 6th floor of the St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center (SVIMC), admitted that after watching news reports on television, he logged on to the SVIMC patient records from his computer at home and accessed a patient’s files to determine if the news reports were accurate. He stated he then logged off the computer admitting that it was inappropriate for him to be looking at the file. He admitted he accessed the file because he was curious. Dr. Holland stated that he had had HIPAA training and that he understood he was violating HIPAA when he accessed the file. SVIMC suspended Dr. Holland’s privileges for two weeks and required him to complete on-line HIPAA training.
Sarah Elizabeth Miller, formerly an account representative at SVIMC, Sherwood Campus, was responsible for checking patients in and out of the clinic and for processing patient billing. In order to perform her duties, she had access to the SVIMC patient records program which includes all locations, not just that of the Sherwood clinic. Miller admitted that on October 20 and 21, 2008, she accessed a patient’s files approximately 12 times out of curiosity. She admitted that she accessed the records without any legitimate purpose. Records show that Miller was trained on HIPAA privacy laws by SVIMC. SVIMC fired Miller from her position.
Candida Griffin was the emergency room unit coordinator at SVIMC. Her responsibilities were secretarial in nature – ordering patient tests and data entry into electronic patient files for patients in the emergency room. Griffin admitted that on October 20, 2008, she was told by the charge nurse to set-up an alias for a particular patient admitted to the emergency room. On October 21, 2008, after the patient had been moved to ICU, Griffin admitted that she became curious about the patient’s status and accessed the medical chart to find out if the patient was still living. Griffin did not inform anyone about accessing the chart however, hospital records show that the patient’s records were accessed three times that day by Ms. Griffin.
SVIMC records show that Griffin was trained on HIPAA privacy laws. SVIMC fired Griffin from her position.
Pursuant to plea agreements with the United States, Holland, Miller and Griffin pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor a violation of the health information privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) based on their accessing a patient’s record without any legitimate purpose. Each faces a maximum penalty of 1 year imprisonment, a fine of not more than $50,000, or both. A sentencing date has not yet been set, but it is anticipated to be within the next 45-60 days.
