Roderick Harvey, HIPAA Violation, Tennessee 2020

Five former Methodist Hospital Employees Charged with HIPAA Violations in Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, TN – Five former employees of Methodist Hospital have been charged with violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, commonly known as “HIPAA.”

Roderick Harvey, 40, a former patient at Methodist Hospital, is accused of paying five hospital employees to obtain patient information. Between November 2017 and December 2020, Harvey allegedly paid Kirby Dandridge, 38, Sylvia Taylor, 43, Kara Thompson, 30, Melanie Russell, 41, and Adrianna Taber, 26, to provide him with names and phone numbers of Methodist patients who had been involved in motor vehicle accidents.

Harvey then sold the information to third persons, including personal injury attorneys and chiropractors, in violation of HIPAA.

The indictment charges Roderick Harvey with conspiring to unlawfully disclose patient information, which carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000 and a three-year period of supervised release. Harvey is also charged with seven counts of obtaining patient information with the intent to sell it for financial gain, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $250,000 and three years’ of supervised release.

Dandridge, Taylor, Thompson, Russell, and Taber are each charged with separate violations of disclosing the information to Harvey in violation of HIPAA, which carries a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment, a $50,000 fine and a one-year period of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

United States Attorney Kevin Ritz thanked Assistant United States Attorney Carroll L. André III, who is prosecuting the case.

The charges and allegations in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

For more information, please contact Public Information Officer Cherri Green at 901-544-4231 or cherri.green@usdoj.gov. Follow @WDTNNews on Twitter for office news and updates.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtn/pr/five-former-methodist-hospital-employees-charged-hipaa-violations