The Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services has announced settlements with three different Boston-area hospitals for allegedly compromising the privacy of protected health information by inviting documentary film crews on premises without first obtaining patient authorization.  The three settlements call for a total of almost $1 million in penalty payments and require each of the hospitals to undertake corrective action.  The corrections are not the same for each hospital and range from workforce education and communication to the establishment of specific procedures, for example, for deciding when to allow media access and for putting safeguards in place to monitor film crew activity.
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