A recent ruling by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") in the case of Director of the Office for Civil Rights v. Lincare, Inc., (Decision No. CR4505, Jan. 13, 2016), underscores the substantial penalties that a health care provider can face, even for relatively small-scale HIPAA violations, particularly if the provider determines to not settle with the Office of Civil Rights ("OCR") and instead contests the claimed violations. In Lincare, a home care agency was found to have violated the Privacy Rule when an unauthorized person (the husband of a home health employee) was able to access patient records after the employee had removed records from the agency and taken them into the field as part of her job. Specifically, the ALJ upheld a civil monetary penalty ("CMP") of $239,800 imposed by OCR – only the second time the OCR has sought CMPs for violations of HIPAA's Privacy Rule.