Company: EHC
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000785161-25-000009
Chunk: 120

Company: Encompass Health Corp
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 120
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 approximately $71,000 per violation for most violations. In the event of violations due to willful neglect that are not corrected within 30 days, penalties start at approximately $71,000 per violation and are not subject to a per violation statutory maximum. Penalties are also subject to an annual cap for multiple identical violations in a single calendar year. Pursuant to guidance from HHS-OCR, this enforcement cap ranges from a minimum of approximately $49,000 per year to a maximum of approximately $2,135,000 per year depending on an entity’s level of culpability. Importantly, HHS-OCR has indicated that the failure to conduct a security risk assessment or adequately implement HIPAA compliance policies could qualify as willful neglect.

In addition, there are numerous legislative and regulatory initiatives at the federal and state levels addressing patient privacy concerns. Healthcare providers will continue to remain subject to any federal or state privacy-related laws, including but not limited to the California Consumer Privacy Act, that are more restrictive than the privacy regulations issued under HIPAA. These laws vary and could impose additional penalties. HHS-OIG and other regulators have also increasingly interpreted laws and regulations in a manner as to increase exposure of healthcare providers to allegations of noncompliance. Any actual or perceived violation of privacy-related laws and regulations, including HIPAA and the HITECH Act, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.

Civil Monetary Penalties Law

Under the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, HHS may impose substantial civil monetary penalties on healthcare providers for a wide variety of fraudulent and improper conduct, including presenting, or causing to be presented, ineligible reimbursement claims. In some instances, violations of this law may include treble damages for the amount of the reimbursement at issue and may include exclusion from federal health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The penalties are adjusted annually to account for inflation. Sanctions under this law are in addition to the other statutory remedies discussed above.

Available Information

We make available through our website, www.encompasshealth.com, the following documents, free of charge: our annual reports (Form 10-K), our quarterly reports (Form 10-Q), our current reports (Form 8-K), and any amendments to those reports promptly after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

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