Aetna, city of New Haven hit with OCR fines after data breach

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has fined Aetna Life Insurance Company $1 million and the city of New Haven, CT $202,400 to settle potential HIPAA violations. Aetna reported three data breaches compromising the information of thousands of individuals, while the city of New Haven had a former employee access and download patient data after termination. The fines are part of OCR’s efforts to enforce HIPAA regulations around protected health information. Both settlements also include two years of monitoring.