HIPAA violation penalties for data breaches include civil monetary penalties assessed by the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights using tiered, inflation-adjusted amounts per violation and calendar year caps, settlement payments with corrective action requirements, and criminal fines and imprisonment when conduct involves knowing and wrongful obtaining, use, or disclosure of individually identifiable health information.
Civil monetary penalties are based on the level of culpability and whether the organization corrected the noncompliance within the allowed period, and they can apply to violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, HIPAA Security Rule, and HIPAA Breach Notification Rule that led to the breach or affected the response. For February 18, 2009 or later violations, the per violation ranges are $145 to $73,011 for a lack of knowledge tier, $1,461 to $73,011 for reasonable cause, $14,602 to $73,011 for willful neglect that is corrected, and $73,011 to $2,190,294 for willful neglect that is not corrected. The inflation-adjusted calendar year cap for violations of an identical provision can reach $2,190,294.
Data breach enforcement often focuses on safeguards and response execution. The Office for Civil Rights evaluates whether the organization conducted and maintained a risk analysis and implemented risk management under the HIPAA Security Rule, whether access controls, audit controls, and transmission security were implemented and enforced, and whether workforce training and sanction policies were applied to prevent impermissible uses and disclosures under the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Penalty exposure can also arise from breach handling failures, including missing required content in notices, delayed notifications beyond regulatory timeframes, or incomplete reporting to the Department of Health and Human Services under the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule.
Criminal penalties apply when a person knowingly and wrongfully obtains, uses, or discloses individually identifiable health information. A basic offense can result in a fine up to $50,000 with imprisonment up to one year, an offense under false pretenses can result in a fine up to $100,000 with imprisonment up to five years, and an offense with intent to sell, transfer, or use the information for commercial advantage, personal gain, or malicious harm can result in a fine up to $250,000 with imprisonment up to 10 years. State attorneys general may also bring civil actions under their HIPAA enforcement authority, which can add financial exposure and corrective action obligations separate from federal enforcement.