November/December 2021

By the Numbers
For The Record
Vol. 33 No. 6 P. 34

150
Data from Epic indicate that the number of digital messages doctors receive from patients increased by more than this percentage at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and remained high throughout the year, reports The Verge.

44
According to an American Medical Association study, the clinician burnout rate is roughly this percentage, which is much higher than burnout rates in other professions; most health care professionals say EHR use is the main cause.

71
By working with a medical assistant who provides previsit and in-room support to improve the efficiency of care and accuracy of documentation, an Intermountain Healthcare dermatologist decreased his total documentation time by this percentage—from 3.5 hours per day to about one hour—increased his patient volume by more than 10 patients per day, and increased the accuracy of his dictation, according to the American Medical Association.

$6.75 Million
According to the US Department of Justice, a Florida cardiologist has paid this amount to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act by performing ablations and vein stent procedures that were medically unnecessary.

$674,026
A Kansas anesthesiologist was charged with participating in a kickback scheme that spanned 22 states and is facing 25 counts related to the alleged health care fraud, according to the US Justice Department. He allegedly was paid $30 for each order or prescription he signed and received this amount in illegal kickbacks. Prosecutors say Medicare lost $26 million as a result.

1,562
A University of Florida Health Shands employee accessed the medical records of this number of patients without authorization over a period of two years, reports HIPAA Journal.

30
According to the Department of Justice, a Texas woman was sentenced to this number of months in federal prison for her role in stealing protected health information from a health care provider's EHR system; one of her coconspirators was sentenced to 48 months. The defendants made more than $1.4 million from selling the stolen information.

$80,000
Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, is paying this amount to settle a potential HIPAA violation on a complaint that the hospital did not provide timely access to all of the medical records requested, reports Healthcare Finance. When the medical records were requested on January 3, 2020, a portion was provided, but the remaining records were not provided until June 20 and July 16, 2020, as a result of the Office for Civil Rights’ investigation in May. This marked the Office for Civil Rights’ 20th investigation of HIPAA Right of Access.