I am the Lab Manager of a POL. I caught a front office staff member trying to look up lab results for a patient under. I know this is a HIPAA violation, but if I report it will the entire practice get fined? The patient records she was trying to look up were actually for the Dr. who owns the practice. We specifically ordered his results under a confidential file so this would not happen. What should I do?

I don't believe you need to report this to HIPAA because a violation does not appear to have actually occurred. As you said, the staffer was "trying" to look up the info but it appears was unsuccessful. Part of the reason that it was unsuccessful seems to be because protocol was followed and the records flagged as confidential.

Therefore, the practice did not violate HIPAA, only an employee attempted to. So what you should do is take appropriate action against the employee. I don't know what that should be since I don't know the whole circumstances. It could be simply a warning that is placed in her employee file or it could be termination of employment.

Thank you so much for your quick response. I will, of course, let the Dr. in question take the lead on her punishment.